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High-profile attorney David Lat is in critical condition at NYU Langone Medical Center in Manhattan while battling the coronavirus, according to a report.
Lat, 44, founder of the legal blog Above the Law, has been put on a ventilator and is “not doing great,” with doctors “taking it hour by hour, day by day,” his husband, Zachary Baron Shemtob, told the New York Law Journal.
“I just want folks to know that he is so strong. He is hanging in there, and we’re praying he’ll recover,” Shemtob said. “Any thoughts or prayers people have are much appreciated.”
A Yale Law School and Harvard University graduate, Lat is a prominent legal commentator, recruiter and author.
Lat has been outspoken about the COVID-19 bug on his Twitter page and has documented both his illness and his frustration with the health care system since being infected earlier this month.
“Folks, this #CoronavirusOutbreak is no joke,” he wrote Tuesday. “I’ll give you occasional updates, tweeting from ‘Above the Hospital Bed,’ about how serious #COVID19 aka #coronavirus can be.”
Lat tweeted that he had been feeling ill for several days and woke up with fever and chills on March 10.
He said he called his doctor on March 13 and was told his symptoms appeared to indicate he had a flue that turned into bronchitis and was prescribed cough syrup and the antibiotic Z-Pak.
Lat said he went to the emergency room but was sent home — only to return last Monday when he “couldn’t breathe again,” he wrote.
He was finally tested and admitted to the hospital, where his condition has continued to worsen.
“It shouldn’t have taken two separate ER visits, both times with severe respiratory symptoms, to get a #COVID19 test,” he wrote Wednesday. “But that is my experience — and even though the situation is improving, it’s still sadly the case for so many others.”
Shemtob told the Law Journal that Lat’s family has been prohibited from visiting him at the hospital.
“Please be vigilant and careful as possible,” he cautioned.
