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> For example, if someone refuses a vaccine, should an emergency room be free to refuse care? Currently, they can not due to EMTALA. Should not refuse care. A

by wsc981 5y ago

> For example, if someone refuses a vaccine, should an emergency room be free to refuse care? Currently, they can not due to EMTALA. Should not refuse care. A lot of people have unhealthy lifestyles (eating lots of processed foods, sugary soda drinks, don’t exercise, smoke, …). We also don’t refuse healthcare to these people even if they make poor life choices. Since many people on this site live and work in the USA, I would guess more likely than not plenty of people are obese here. You don’t magically become obese. Yet you deserve healthcare, since you pay taxes, pay for a health insurance, etc…

Ekaros 5y ago
Also that leads to questions like should we refuse care for healthy but dangerous activities like swimming and drowning. Or breaking a leg or arm during sports? Or concussions? These clearly could have been avoided by choosing safer options or ways. Thus should be refused care?
- ModernMech 5y ago
  When the ICU is past capacity, these questions must be asked regardless. Who gets treated first and why? Unvaccinated covid patients are the ones pushing ICUs past capacity, not drivers or swimmers or soccer players or obese people. This is not a hypothetical thought experiment. Doctors are having to make these decisions right now.
  - wsc981 5y ago
    Actually most people with COVID needing extra healthcare are obese: https://www.radboudumc.nl/en/news-items/2021/patients-who-are-obese-or-overweight-are-at-risk-for-a-more-severe-course-of-covid-19 https://www.radboudumc.nl/en/news-items/2021/patients-who-ar... Also from March 2020: https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2020/03/coronavirus-death-toll-rises-obese-corona-patients-dominate-in-intensive-care/ https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2020/03/coronavirus-death-toll... > Meanwhile, Diederik Gommers, chairman of the Dutch intensive care association, told television talk show Jinek on Friday evening that 66% to 80% of corona patients on intensive care wards that he had seen are overweight. > A specialist on the programme gave a similar picture. ‘Almost all the patients on an IC ward are overweight,’ Peter van der Voort of Groningen University’s teaching hospital said.

by wsc981 5y ago

Ekaros 5y ago

Also that leads to questions like should we refuse care for healthy but dangerous activities like swimming and drowning. Or breaking a leg or arm during sports? Or concussions? These clearly could have been avoided by choosing safer options or ways. Thus should be refused care?

ModernMech 5y ago
When the ICU is past capacity, these questions must be asked regardless. Who gets treated first and why? Unvaccinated covid patients are the ones pushing ICUs past capacity, not drivers or swimmers or soccer players or obese people. This is not a hypothetical thought experiment. Doctors are having to make these decisions right now.
- wsc981 5y ago
  Actually most people with COVID needing extra healthcare are obese: https://www.radboudumc.nl/en/news-items/2021/patients-who-are-obese-or-overweight-are-at-risk-for-a-more-severe-course-of-covid-19 https://www.radboudumc.nl/en/news-items/2021/patients-who-ar... Also from March 2020: https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2020/03/coronavirus-death-toll-rises-obese-corona-patients-dominate-in-intensive-care/ https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2020/03/coronavirus-death-toll... > Meanwhile, Diederik Gommers, chairman of the Dutch intensive care association, told television talk show Jinek on Friday evening that 66% to 80% of corona patients on intensive care wards that he had seen are overweight. > A specialist on the programme gave a similar picture. ‘Almost all the patients on an IC ward are overweight,’ Peter van der Voort of Groningen University’s teaching hospital said.