Post by Deleted on Mar 22, 2020 10:54:39 GMT -5
'Who lives and who dies': In worst-case coronavirus scenario, ethics guide choices on who gets care
Ken Alltucker
USA TODAY
It’s a scenario few health-care leaders want to contemplate much less discuss: What if the ranks of desperately ill patients overwhelm the nation’s ability to care for them?
With respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus rapidly spreading, nowhere is that potential more evident than the nation’s limited supply of mechanical breathing machines called ventilators.
Desperate scenes are playing out in Italy, where a spike in COVID-19 cases have overwhelmed the medical system and doctors have reported shortages of staff and equipment. More than 4,800 people have died there, surpassing China in total deaths.
Coronavirus live updates: What we know Sunday about the pandemic, including US cases, deaths
Because the worst cases of COVID-19 rob a person of their ability to breathe, patients die unless they get life-sustaining oxygen from machines. But there are fewer than 100,000 ventilators in the United States and millions of patients struggling to breathe might need such care.
Other machines can deliver oxygen to help those with mild or moderate forms of the disease, but the most critically ill patients need powerful airway pressure that only ventilators can deliver.
Elective surgeries continue at some US hospitals during coronavirus outbreak despite supply and safety worries
Federal and state officials are urging people to follow measures to prevent the spread of the respiratory virus that causes the disease. Both California and New York have adopted strict limits on travel and commerce and urged people to stay home and eliminate nonessential travel.
These measures aim to slow the pace of new infections and ease demands on hospitals without the intensive care unit beds, protective gear or ventilators to handle an unprecedented surge of patients.
In a worst-case scenario of ventilator shortages, physicians may have to decide “who lives and who dies,” said Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, an oncologist and chairman of the University of Pennsylvania’s department of medical ethics and health policy.
“It’s horrible,” Emanuel said. “It’s the worst thing you can have to do.”
www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/03/22/coronavirus-crisis-medical-ethics-guide-decisions-doctors-cant-help-all/2882738001/?for-guid=158796fa-5e64-11ea-aa83-0e172e16bbc5&utm_source=usatoday-Daily%20Briefing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=baseline&utm_term=hero
Ken Alltucker
USA TODAY
It’s a scenario few health-care leaders want to contemplate much less discuss: What if the ranks of desperately ill patients overwhelm the nation’s ability to care for them?
With respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus rapidly spreading, nowhere is that potential more evident than the nation’s limited supply of mechanical breathing machines called ventilators.
Desperate scenes are playing out in Italy, where a spike in COVID-19 cases have overwhelmed the medical system and doctors have reported shortages of staff and equipment. More than 4,800 people have died there, surpassing China in total deaths.
Coronavirus live updates: What we know Sunday about the pandemic, including US cases, deaths
Because the worst cases of COVID-19 rob a person of their ability to breathe, patients die unless they get life-sustaining oxygen from machines. But there are fewer than 100,000 ventilators in the United States and millions of patients struggling to breathe might need such care.
Other machines can deliver oxygen to help those with mild or moderate forms of the disease, but the most critically ill patients need powerful airway pressure that only ventilators can deliver.
Elective surgeries continue at some US hospitals during coronavirus outbreak despite supply and safety worries
Federal and state officials are urging people to follow measures to prevent the spread of the respiratory virus that causes the disease. Both California and New York have adopted strict limits on travel and commerce and urged people to stay home and eliminate nonessential travel.
These measures aim to slow the pace of new infections and ease demands on hospitals without the intensive care unit beds, protective gear or ventilators to handle an unprecedented surge of patients.
In a worst-case scenario of ventilator shortages, physicians may have to decide “who lives and who dies,” said Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, an oncologist and chairman of the University of Pennsylvania’s department of medical ethics and health policy.
“It’s horrible,” Emanuel said. “It’s the worst thing you can have to do.”
www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/03/22/coronavirus-crisis-medical-ethics-guide-decisions-doctors-cant-help-all/2882738001/?for-guid=158796fa-5e64-11ea-aa83-0e172e16bbc5&utm_source=usatoday-Daily%20Briefing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=baseline&utm_term=hero
