Colorado Is Creating Guidelines To Help Make Excruciating Coronavirus Care Decisions

Posted: April 2, 2020

What if four patients in respiratory distress need a ventilator to keep them alive, but a hospital has just one available? Who makes that call? And how?

Public health and community leaders are contemplating excruciating dilemmas just like that before demand for medical help in the coronavirus crisis peaks in coming weeks, The Colorado Sun reports.

They’re updating protocols, called “crisis standards of care,” for the most urgent medical decision-making possible, guidelines to determine, as resources get scarce, who gets care and at what level and who does not.

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