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ER Doctor in NYC Says Ventilators May Be Harming Covid-19 Patients
- ImpressiveWebs 7y agoJust to be clear: He says it's not the ventilators themselves that are causing the harm, but the way they are configured. He believes they are causing pressure to the lungs that is making the situation worse for many patients.
- downerending 7y agoEven so, ventilators do harm patients. The hope is that on average the benefit is greater than the harm. They're no joke, though.
- opendomain 7y agoCan you explain? How do ventilators harm patients? Are there alternatives?
- downerending 7y agoI'm no expert, but apparently it has a lot of negative side effects. Most people have to be heavily sedated, and just being immobile for a week or a month takes a toll. There are problems with being intubated for this length of time: stenosis (muscle seizure of the throat?), infections, etc. If they get the vent settings wrong, pressure or volume can be too high, leading to lung damage over time. Etc. The exact figures are unclear, but it appears that most people going on vents during this crisis are dying. Even read a report this morning that NYC might need fewer vents than expected, simply because they can be so rapidly reused (due to deaths of users). Again, no expert, but the alternatives seem to be oxygen using means that make it more available (can't recall the acronym--HFNC?), and non-invasive ventilation (which doesn't involve intubation). One story made it sound like doctors are preferring vents as much to keep the medical staff safe as for the health of the patient. The alternatives to vents risk spreading virus, whereas intubation apparently does not as much. Grim choice.
- Gibbon1 7y agoUCSF doctors alluded to the same thing.