Beloved Houston-area pediatrician loses her battle to COVID-19

Beloved local pediatrician dies from COVID-19

FOX 26's Rashi Vats spoke with a friend of the pediatrician who passed away from COVID-19, just three weeks before she was supposed to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

HOUSTON - A beloved local pediatrician lost her battle with COVID-19. She fought for a month at the hospital.

"It is such a tragedy that someone who has dedicated her life to taking care of children and making things better for people, that she would die of a disease that she was on the list to get a vaccine for. It just shows us how important this vaccine is. She was three weeks shy of getting it and it would have probably saved her life," said Dr. Stephanie Pocsik, her friend and colleague of more than 30 years.

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Dr. Bhutani died Saturday. She had been on the list to get the COVID-19 vaccine this month. The shot was something Dr. Pocsik says she was hesitant about, but not anymore.

"I always get nervous about things that get developed rapidly in medicine," said Dr. Pocsik. "But when it comes true to your heart, and it comes true to home, all that stuff is thrown out the window, to be honest with you. As soon as she was diagnosed and so sick, I was badgering them to get the vaccine and badgering my staff, you need to do this. You cannot let your family go through a loss like this."

Hundreds of patients have expressed their shock and condolences on the Clear Lake Pediatrics Facebook Page. Dr. Pocsik says it is a testament to the impact she had in the community with her more than 40 years as a pediatrician.

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"If anything can come out of this in any positive light, anything you can do - it’s that maybe more people will be aware of the vaccine and get quicker to get it."

Dr. Bhutani leaves behind her husband, son and daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren.