The rapid spread of the coronavirus in New York is getting worse and worse. In New York City alone there are (as of April 2, midnight) 45,000 infected and 2,000 corona deaths. Around 240 people die of Covid-19 in the metropolis every day. The situation is desperate as the hospitals are hopelessly overcrowded. There is also a lack of essential medical equipment. Ventilators in particular are few and far between, so that sometimes two patients have to be supplied with one device
And now the virus is also claiming the lives of people who are not infected with Covid-19. New guidelines for health workers state that cardiac arrest victims who cannot be resuscitated in place must be left to die. This should relieve the hospitals overcrowded with corona patients.
“If you can’t be resuscitated on the spot, that was it”
That was decided by the regional council for emergency medical services in New York on Tuesday. The New York newspaper “The New York Post” has received a letter with the new regulations. Until now, it has been a matter of course to bring heart attack patients to hospital for further attempts at resuscitation. But in view of the emergency rooms and intensive care units overloaded with corona patients, people now have to die so that others can survive.
“They [die Notfallsanitäter] do what they can to save the people with the highest probability of survival, ”explains a medical assistant in an interview with the“ New York Post ”. The rule applies: “If you cannot be resuscitated on the spot, that was it. They will try, but if they do not get a pulse back, they will not drive you to the hospital,” said the helper.
This would merely follow the guideline that is now in force: “No non-traumatic or blunt traumatic cardiac arrest in adults may be transported to a hospital with ongoing manual or mechanical compression without either a return to the spontaneous circulation (ROSC) or a direct order from a medical control doctor takes place unless there is an immediate physical danger to the emergency services on site, “says the letter.
The bodies can remain in the custody of the police
In addition, the new decree provides for the disposal of those who died locally: If a resuscitation is unsuccessful and the corpse is publicly visible, it can remain in the care of the New York Police Department NYPD. If the NYPD arrives late at the scene, the paramedics are required to call a special police unit. This takes care of the removal of those who died on the spot.
Due to the large number of deaths, the capacity of the morgues is exhausted. Temporary cooling tents in which the corpses are stored are currently being set up in the city.
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