EMTs in Los Angeles treat a COVID-19 patient.Photo: APU GOMES/AFP via Getty
With hospitals beyond capacity due to anoverwhelming number of COVID-19 casesand hospitalizations, Los Angeles County is having to refuse care to patients with a low chance of survival.
Emergency Medical Service (EMS) workers have been instructed not to bring patients who are unlikely to survive to L.A. hospitals, as there is no room to treat them. This includes both COVID-19 patients and people with other conditions, such as heart attacks, strokes or those in car accidents.
“Effective immediately, due to the severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on EMS and 9-1-1 Receiving Hospitals, adult patients (18 years of age or older) in blunt traumatic and nontraumatic out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) shall not be transported [if] return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) is not achieved in the field,” the agency said in a memo issued to ambulance workers last week,CNN reported.
EMS workers are to attempt to revive patients who are not breathing or do not have a pulse, and if they stabilize, workers can take them to the hospital. But if the patient does not regain a pulse or is declared dead, EMS workers should not move them to a hospital, the county EMS said.
L.A. County is also dealing with an oxygen shortage, and EMS said that workers should try to limit their use.
“Given the acute need to conserve oxygen, effective immediately, EMS should only administer supplemental oxygen to patients with oxygen saturation below 90%,” EMS said in a memo on Monday.
RELATED VIDEO:Ellen DeGeneresOpens Up About ‘Excruciating Back Pain’ After COVID-19 Diagnosis: It’s ‘Bad’
Since March, more than 2,474,500 California residents have tested positive for COVID-19, and at least 26,995 people have died from the virus,The New York Timesreported.
“This is a deadly disease, this is a deadly pandemic,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday, according to theTimes. “It remains more deadly today than at any point in the history of the pandemic.”
source: people.com
