Flu Nightmare: In Severe Pandemic, Officials Ponder Disconnecting Ventilators From Some Patients

ProPublica.org

9/23/2009

With scant public input, state and federal officials are pushing ahead with plans that — during a severe flu outbreak — would deny use of scarce ventilators by some patients to assure they would be available for patients judged to benefit the most from them.

The plans have been drawn up to give doctors specific guidelines for extreme circumstances, and they include procedures under which patients who weren’t improving would be removed from life support with or without permission of their families.

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