The Life-or-Death Lottery We All Better Hope We Can Avoid
FROM BAD TO WORSE
Our current shortage of ventilators means doctors could be forced to flip a coin to decide which patients live and which die if the pandemic gets worse.
Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Getty
If we go the way of Italy, a shortage of ventilators will force our doctors to choose who lives and who dies.
The initial triage decisions will be searing, but relatively simple: those most in need of a ventilator and who have the best chances of surviving.
But there could come moments when doctors will be forced to choose from among patients who meet the same medical criteria.
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