In the early weeks of the pandemic, Dr. Lorenzo González, then a second-year resident of family medicine at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, ran on fumes, working as many as 80 hours a week in the ICU. He was constantly petrified that he would catch the COVID-19 virus and guilt-ridden for not having enough time to help his ailing father.
In April 2020, his father, a retired landscaper, died of heart and lung failure. González mourned alone. His job as a doctor-in-training put him at high risk of catching the virus, and he didn’t want to inadvertently spread it to his family. Financial stress also set in as he confronted steep burial costs.
Now, González is calling for better pay and benefits for residents who work grueling schedules at Los Angeles County’s public hospitals for what he said amounts to less than $18 an hour — while caring for the county’s most vulnerable patients.
