Syed (Zayd) Qamer, MD, Cardiology Fellow, MGUH/MWHC

I want to give a shout out to MedStar/Georgetown Cardiology Fellow Dr. Syed Qamer! Dr. Qamer did an amazing job of providing comfort in a tragic moment. One of the COVID IMC patients began to decompensate with multiple runs of VT and quickly dropping oxygen levels. The patient was DNR and DNI. Dr. Qamer immediately went and spoke with the patient, reassured him, and quickly initiated appropriate comfort care measures. The patient shared that his only wish was to see his wife one more time.  Upon exiting the room, Dr. Qamer diligently called the patient’s wife several times until he was able to reach her around 1 am. He then spent 45 minutes helping her to set up and run Facetime on her tablet so she could be with her husband virtually, while at the same time facilitating an urgent visitor approval to allow her to come to the hospital to see her husband in person. Once she was approved, he even organized transport and called to check on her every step along the way.

When she arrived at the hospital, he met her at the door and really eased her pain at seeing her husband in his terminal condition. It was Dr. Qamer who helped to facilitate the level of coordination which allowed the patient and his wife to have some semblance of peace in the process.

I just think he deserves some recognition for going above and beyond so much for the patient and family.

Greg Argyros, MD, MWHC President, added the following reflection:

“THIS is selfless service by one of our fellows.  He is a great role model for how we should all act.

By the way, I was on administrative call and received his visitor request plea at 02:27 in the morning as he and the nursing supervisors struggled to quickly get the patient’s wife here.  I cannot be more proud of his actions.”