LONDON — Ventilators in short supply. Intensive care beds already overflowing. Some health workers buying their own face masks or hoods. And if cases of the
deadly coronavirus surge in anything like the numbers some experts have predicted, doctors say they would have to consider denying lifesaving care to the frailest patients to prioritize those with better chances of surviving.
“If we haven’t got ventilatory support to offer them, it’s going to end in death,” said Dr. George Priestley, an intensive care doctor and anesthesiologist in Yorkshire in northern England. “I don’t want to be alarmist. I just want someone to pay attention.”
Canada must take immediate steps to prepare itself for potential COVID-19 pandemic, experts say
''Another crucial issue is a potential lack of ventilators, said David Fisman, an epidemiologist at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health. If the virus starts spreading freely in Canada, ventilators will be important in the treatment of patients, particularly those over the age of 65, who appear to experience the worst effects, he said.
“There aren’t enough,” said Dr. Fisman, who is also an attending physician at Toronto Western Hospital. “There’s not a lot of clarity and there’s not a lot of leadership and there’s not a strong voice … in terms of how do you prepare in hospitals.”
Dr. McCready said she believes hospitals may have enough ventilators, but need guidance on how to make difficult choices about how to assign priority to patients who are critically ill with COVID-19.
“We need to be thinking about these decisions now, before I have 10 people in my emergency department who range from 30 to 90 years old who all need a ventilator and we only have five ventilators,” she said.''