By Michele Gorman

Law360 (June 11, 2020, 12:30 PM EDT ) While working as a hospital nurse, Colleen Carboy found herself advocating for a patient recovering from COVID-19 and channeling her skills from a much different career, one she had only put on hold to help battle the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

A 55-year-old medical malpractice lawyer at the Dallas-area Carboy Law Firm, Carboy recalled that there was a delay in discharging the patient from the hospital because the home health oxygen company refused to enter his house to set up the respiratory services required for his recovery.

"It was like a standoff," she told Law360 in a recent interview. "I thought to myself, boy, you have the perfect nurse for today because I can end this standoff."

She added, "I'm an expert advocator."

Carboy requested that the discharge case coordinator reiterate to the company its duty to go into the home to set up the service. Ultimately, the company installed the required oxygen tanks and tubing, and the patient went home — a blip of happiness during an otherwise challenging time.

Carboy worked as a registered nurse earlier in her career; it had been more than 25 years since she left the profession. But after hearing about the staggering death toll and lack of resources in hard-hit Italy earlier this year, she searched for ways she could help.

"That really touched me," she said about the conditions overseas, adding that at that point she thought, "I've got a resource that I could use to help people and maybe it would make a difference. I just felt like it was something I had to do."

She Googled openings for a travel nurse — a term she said refers to nurses who are willing to relocate for a specific time frame when a hospital is short-staffed — and ultimately accepted a six-week position at a hospital in New Jersey. Before she left her home in Lewisville, Texas, in April, she received immunizations, learned the hospital's policies and procedures and updated her will.

She also needed approval from clients and opposing counsel to put cases on hold, and to make arrangements for other lawyers in the area to assist her paralegal if needed — all of which she said she accomplished without pushback from anyone.

"This is all just everyone helping everyone," Carboy said. "The support was really, really nice to see."

Once on the East Coast during the second week of April, she cared for about six COVID-19 patients each day, initially working 14-hour days without breaks for as many as five days a week.

"It was rough, really rough the first few weeks just because the whole hospital was COVID patients," she said. "It was really, really busy, and it was eerie hearing the code blues that we had for COVID patients. … You would hear those throughout the day. It was sad."

Among the difficult experiences she recalled was facilitating video meetings for relatives to say goodbye to a dying patient.

"When we knew that we were transitioning them to comfort care, which meant that they're in the final days and families couldn't come see them, [we would] try to arrange a Zoom meeting while that patient was still able to communicate, and then they would all kind of say goodbye to each other," she said.

She said it was also hard to see the virus affect several members of one family. One patient became sick with the coronavirus after both of his parents died from it, and another patient had to go to the emergency room for COVID-19 symptoms while he was on his way to his wife's funeral.

"He was devastated that he didn't get to attend his wife's funeral," Carboy said. "He was really sick himself."

Despite the terrible situations, there were a few positive memories she recalled, including reviving patients after administering CPR and hearing Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" over the hospital intercom, which meant a patient was going home.

And while she was there, the hospital marked a milestone by discharging its 500th COVID-19 patient.

"The staff that didn't have direct patient care all went to the lobby and celebrated," she said. "It was really sweet."

Carboy's own daily struggles included finding her way around the hospital and managing the COVID-19 uniform. The gear she wore at first included a mask over an N-95 mask, a face shield and disposable shoe covers, as well as gowns and gloves that she changed between each patient room.

"It was time-consuming, especially if you went into the room and you found that you needed something from the supply room," she said. "You have to go out, pull it off, go get your supplies, come back, and then regown, reglove, and you're trying to be efficient with your time."

Once back at the hotel after her shift each day, she showered, ate dinner and tried to sleep.

"What was weird is I couldn't sleep when I was out there," Carboy said, adding that she "would replay the sad things that happened."

Carboy kept up her own morale by FaceTiming with her husband, two college-age children and dogs after her shifts.

Since she returned to Texas in mid-May, Carboy self-quarantined for two weeks, tested negative for COVID-19 and resumed her law practice.

Reflecting on her role during the pandemic, she said the work gave her an opportunity to step completely out of her life and gain a fresh perspective.

"I think we all tend to fall into habits of just checking the boxes and getting things done," she said. "When you're away from your life for six weeks and come back, you get to reevaluate whether you're doing things for the right reasons and what's important and what's not important."

--Editing by Rebecca Flanagan and Alyssa Miller.

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