New York Hospitality Decided To Rationing And Retrofitting Ventilators Amid Of Coronavirus Crisis
Doctors and Hospitals are facing a difficult time while treating the patients as there is a shortage of enough tools and ventilators, numbers of cases increasing rapidly in New York.
Physicians of New York have been told to use their judgment to decide who to give ventilators to only emergency cases they find required the most, day by day the stockpiles of tool kits and equipment coming to an end. Hospitals are now converting their machines that used as sleep apnea to provide ventilators and other equipment to treat infected patients.
Medical experts shared their views and warned that this would have a long-term consequence on the physical health of infected patients as well as mental health of physicians who have to make decisions that may decide the life and death of patients – the worsening coronavirus condition made doctors make such decisions, and they have no other choice.
Dr. Art Fougner, president, and medical practitioner as Medical society of New York State stated on the shortage of ventilators and medical equipment, “Already, some emergency physicians are reporting being told the equivalent of ‘Use your best judgment. You’re on your own. For sure, we will be seeing increasing depression and PTSD that will eclipse today’s physician burnout.”
Dr. Fougner suggested the medical centers first refer to the guidelines published by the state Department of Health’s 2015 on the allocation of ventilator allocation consists “framework to inform policy decisions.” These guidelines help hospitals towards making the decisions which should get ventilators during a pandemic.
He read one guideline, “To accomplish this goal, patients for whom ventilator therapy would most likely be lifesaving are prioritized.”
State officials also said in order to make the balance between saving the lives and calming the panicked public, the call of the doctors on their own is not an official policy.
Jill Montag, the spokesperson from the state health department, stated that “The 2015 task force for life and law report is not a binding policy document and is not guiding the state’s response,” he added, “The Governor has been clear from the start that his focus is procuring all the appropriate medical equipment to manage this public health response.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio has refused to discuss the plans on how they ration patients’ care if there is a shortage of ventilators.
On Wednesday, Mayor Blasio stated in a press conference that, “The goal is to fight every minute to avoid ever having to get to that point,”
Hospitals are now retrofitting the machines to use them for patient care. In these machines, they have to attach extra HEPA filters and treat the patients with lower symptoms, stated one official.
