According to my local public radio station, some medical centers in China and Italy have had to decide who will get a ventilator and who have not. These can be life or death decisions, when there are not enough ventilators for everyone in need. There’s the rub.
Questions to ponder:
As the decision maker for the center, how would you decide?
As a patient, what factors, if any, would lead you to “opt out” of using a ventilator?
@js357 saidI would make a decision based on age and life expectancy.
According to my local public radio station, some medical centers in China and Italy have had to decide who will get a ventilator and who have not. These can be life or death decisions, when there are not enough ventilators for everyone in need. There’s the rub.
Questions to ponder:
As the decision maker for the center, how would you decide?
As a patient, what factors, if any, would lead you to “opt out” of using a ventilator?
I would give it to a 50 yr old over an 80 yr old but not if the 50 yr old had a terminal illness.
As for what would make me turn down a ventilator, not sure anything would if I was gasping for breath, to be honest, I’d rather leave it to the health care professionals.
@kevcvs57 saidWell, it's a little difficult to say for certain here, while I'm not ill and my breathing is fine, but intubation is a pretty unpleasant procedure with risks of its own and I'm not sure I'd want it.
I would make a decision based on age and life expectancy.
I would give it to a 50 yr old over an 80 yr old but not if the 50 yr old had a terminal illness.
As for what would make me turn down a ventilator, not sure anything would if I was gasping for breath, to be honest, I’d rather leave it to the health care professionals.
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@deepthought saidPeople on a vent are usually afforded a "sedation vacation".
Well, it's a little difficult to say for certain here, while I'm not ill and my breathing is fine, but intubation is a pretty unpleasant procedure with risks of its own and I'm not sure I'd want it.
Practically no conscious person can tolerate being on a ventilator.
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@js357 saidTriage procedures are our ethical fallback.
According to my local public radio station, some medical centers in China and Italy have had to decide who will get a ventilator and who have not. These can be life or death decisions, when there are not enough ventilators for everyone in need. There’s the rub.
Questions to ponder:
As the decision maker for the center, how would you decide?
As a patient, what factors, if any, would lead you to “opt out” of using a ventilator?
The patient with the greatest probability of survival gets the nod.
I'm not saying that it's easy. Listening to a patient's family beg and plead with doctors, for any life-saving measure possible, is always unpleasant and heart-breaking.
Doctors and nurses are routinely offered counseling and therapy in order help deal with resultant and unhealthy feelings. Guilt and hesitation are killers in my business.
