Rationing medical care becomes a reality in hospitals overwhelmed with covid patients

Four patients, two dialysis machines: Rationing medical care becomes a reality in hospitals overwhelmed with covid patients Activating crisis standards of care gives hospitals the power to allocate — and potentially even deny — care based on the goal of who could potentially benefit the most when faced with a shortage of resources such as ventilators, medications or staff. Washington Post

Rationing medical care, one of the most feared scenarios of the pandemic, is becoming a reality in a few parts of the United States as coronavirus infections remain at surge levels.

On Thursday, Idaho officials announced the state was taking the extraordinary step of activating crisis standards of care statewide, giving hospitals the power to allocate — and potentially even deny — care based on the goal of who could benefit the most when faced with a shortage of resources such as ventilators, medications or staff. The decision will affect both covid and non-covid patients in a health-care system that is fraying. ...

The threat of rationing has been ever-present during the pandemic, with individual hospitals and Arizona and New Mexico declaring crisis standards for short periods in 2020. But perhaps because of the natural ebb and flow of infectious disease, the fact that shutdowns meant that less trauma and other non-covid care was needed, or thanks to creative redistribution of resources by health officials, the need to ration has been rare.