HOSPITALS ACROSS U.S. CONSIDER UNIVERSAL DO-NO-RESUSCITATE ORDERS FOR CORONAVIRUS PATIENTS

Hospitals on the front lines of the pandemic are engaged in a heated private debate over a calculation few have encountered in their lifetimes - how to weigh the “save at all costs” approach to resuscitating a dying patient against the real danger of exposing doctors and nurses to the contagion of coronavirus.

The conversations are driven by the realization that the risk to staff amid dwindling stores of protective equipment - such as masks, gowns and gloves - may be too great to justify the conventional response when a patient "codes," and their heart or breathing stops.

In a sign of the grim choices ahead, officials worry that “all hands” responses may expose doctors and nurses to infection and some prioritize the survival of the many over the one.

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Hospitals across U.S. consider universal do-not-resuscitate orders for coronavirus patients

In a sign of the grim choices ahead, officials worry that “all hands” responses may expose doctors and nurses to infection and some prioritize the survival of the many over the one.