Who Gets a Ventilator? We don’t want doctors playing God. Here’s how we avoid that.
New York Times: Opinion Video
Apr 14, 2020
Imagine that you’re a physician at a hospital overwhelmed by the coronavirus. Three new patients have just arrived in your I.C.U., each gasping for air— a 75-year-old grandfather who was in perfect health just a week ago, a 30-year-old woman who has diabetes and asthma, and a 50-year-old I.C.U. nurse who, like you, has been treating coronavirus patients for weeks.
What you do know is that in your maxed-out hospital, there’s only one free ventilator. Is it up to you to choose who gets the chance to live, to play god? “That is the worst possible situation— that individual doctors would be faced with making this tragic choice on their own, based on their own sense of moral values and own judgment.,” stated Center Director Matthew Wynia, MD, MPH.Read the transcript.
