Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press. [P360P].
Los Angeles County is in a real mess because of the health crisis caused by COVID-19, which has so far left almost 11,000 dead in the area, where ambulance teams have now been asked not to transport those patients with little chance of survival.
The Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services Agency (EMS) issued a memo last week to ambulance workers noting that adult patients (18 years or older) in traumatic and non-traumatic out-of-hospital cardiac arrest will not be transported if return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) is not achieved in the field.
So, if the patient has no signs of breathing or a pulse, EMS will attempt to resuscitate the patient for at least 20 minutes. If the patient is stabilized, he will be transferred to a hospital, but if he is declared dead at the scene or the pulse cannot be restored, the paramedics will not take him to the hospital.
"This order, issued by county emergency medical services, is really very specific for patients who have had a heart attack and cannot be revived in the field," said Dr. Jeffrey Smith, director of operations at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
"Such patients have a very low survival rate if they are transported to the hospital. Therefore, at this point, it is considered that it is probably useless," the specialist added in an interview with CNN.
The media added that nearly 7,900 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 in Los Angeles County alone, and 21 percent of them are in intensive care units, putting enormous pressure on health services and intensive care units.
In addition, the increase in COVID-19 patients has led to a shortage of supplemental oxygen, which means that some patients treated for EMS will not receive it.
"Given the acute need to conserve oxygen, effective immediately, EMS should only administer supplemental oxygen to patients with oxygen saturation below 90 percent," Los Angeles County EMS said in its statement.
