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Huntington Hospital Officials Could Be Forced to Make Difficult Decisions About Who Receives Health Care

Team may have to decide who gets scarce resources as COVID surge continues

Published on Monday, December 28, 2020 | 9:49 am
 

According to a message posted on the Huntington Hospital website on Christmas Eve, medical personnel could soon be forced to make hard decisions regarding who gets vital care.

“As we hit record COVID-19 infections in the midst of these shortages, we need to be very careful with our resources to ensure we have enough to serve our entire community, including those who have illnesses unrelated to this virus,” the hospital posted. 

These resources include life support machines, such as ventilators, intensive care unit (ICU) beds, and healthy medical staff to care for patients.

If the virus continues to surge out of control, a team of doctors, including an expert in health care ethics, would review cases of critically ill patients and could decide to provide those resources to patients with the best chance of surviving. 

“This team will make necessary decisions about allocating limited medical resources based on the best medical information possible and will use the same decision criteria that are being used nationally and throughout California on all patient cases,” the message states.

The team will only receive information about the health of the patient. Information regarding race, gender and insurance will not be provided.

“If a patient becomes ill and the doctor believes the patient needs extra care in an ICU or needs mechanical ventilation (breathing machine), their case will be reviewed, along with other patient cases, to determine how these resources should be shared throughout the hospital,” the statement reads. 

“If a patient becomes extremely sick and very unlikely to survive his/her illness (even with life-saving treatment) – limited medical resources may go to treat other patients who are more likely to survive. If care in the ICU or a ventilator is not offered or is stopped, the patient or a family member has the right to ask their doctor for further detail concerning this decision and will receive everything they need to ensure they are comfortable and free of pain or discomfort.”


Read the Huntington Hospital statement here


As of Monday morning, the hospital was treating 189 patients, including 30 in its intensive care unit. The ICU has been expanded to treat more patients during a surge that has made California the epicenter of the virus.

In Southern California, ICUs have reached capacity. The surge in cases has forced Huntington Hospital to treat some patients in tents. The facility’s ICU has been expanded and the nurse-to-patient ratio has been expanded, forcing already tired nurses to treat more patients, 

On Dec. 23, the hospital posted on its Twitter page photos of exhausted health care workers on the steps of the hospital.

“The past nine months are weighing heavily on our exhausted caregivers, especially now with the latest surge of patients filling up our hospital. We need your help. Please stay home, wear a mask if you go out, and don’t gather with others or travel.” 

The state is under a stay-at-home order aimed at controlling the spread of the virus. Still, many health care workers say the worst is yet to come as two additional and more contagious strains of the virus have been detected.

Even before that, Pasadena Public Health Director Dr. Ying-Ying Goh warned residents during a Pasadena City Council meeting that the surge could limit care.

“We all need to be extremely concerned about our access to medical care due to the emergency,” Goh said. “It might not be available. In the city of Pasadena, if you or I need medical care, we might not be able to be taken care of.”

Medical officials fear an additional surge caused by the holidays could lead to further spread of the virus and leave hospitals with even fewer resources.

“Our greatest fear is that activity during the coming holidays could push health care and hospitals toward a breaking point,” a hospital spokesperson told Pasadena Now days before Christmas. “Nobody wants this to happen, and certainly our caregivers do not want to imagine providing care in a scarce resource context.”

On Sunday, Dr. Kim Shriner, a Huntington Hospital infectious disease specialist, appeared on CNN to discuss the situation at the hospital. 

“Right now,” Shriner said, “we are just kind of hanging on by our fingernails.”

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