Los Angeles ambulance crews told not to transport patients who stand little chance of survival

CNN ^ | January 5, 2021 | Alexandra Meeks

[MinorityRepublican]

With intensive care units at Southern California hospitals nearly full because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services Agency (EMS) has directed ambulance crews not to transport patients with little chance of survival to hospitals, and to conserve the use of oxygen.

Los Angeles and Southern California are dealing with one of the country's worst outbreaks of the novel coronavirus. ICU bed capacity plunged to 0% in Southern California last month, as more and more people were admitted to hospital seeking treatment for Covid-19.

Now, many medical facilities simply do not have the space to take in patients who do not have a chance of survival, according to the agency.

As of Monday evening, there were 7,544 people hospitalized in Los Angeles due to Covid-19 and just 17 available adult ICU beds, according to county health data. Due to the shortage of beds, the county EMS said patients whose hearts have stopped, despite efforts of resuscitation, should no longer be transported to hospitals.

If there are no signs of breathing or a pulse, EMS will continue to perform resuscitation for at least 20 minutes, the EMS memo said. If the patient is stabilized after the period of resuscitation, the patient would then be transported to a hospital. If the patient is declared dead at the scene or if no pulse can be restored, paramedics will no longer transport the body to the hospital.

Oxygen shortage: A shortage of oxygen in Los Angeles and the nearby San Joaquin Valley, thanks to Covid-19, is putting immense pressure on the system and forcing paramedics to conserve the supply.

In order to maintain normal circulation of the blood to organs and tissue needed for the body to function, EMS said an oxygen saturation of at least 90% will be sufficient.

[metmom]

Which is the sole reason I see cuomo sticking infected patients in nursing homes.

[ontap]

That's easy....if one dies of the flu it is recorded as Covid....biggest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people. We are constantly told by Democrat governors and mayors how dangerous it is to go outside of our homes while they are feasting in foreign countries!!!

[Georgia Girl 2]

So I was watching Salty Cracker on YouTube the other day and he and a friend drove to look at three separate hospitals in the area. They all have vivid triage set up. He reported the hospitals were practically deserted.

[MarMema]

You’re pretty funny. It amazes me that you would even think that an arrest in the field would have the same access to treatments as one in the ED.

[FoxInSocks]

See the ACLS guidelines.

What will they do in an ED to treat cardiac arrest that won’t be done prehospital?

[minnesota_bound]

You are on a death list here in Los Angeles now.

Supposedly due to the shortage of bed because of the chinese virus.
Plus no oxygen either after all these months of a democratic party lockdown of free people that they did not prepare.

You can bet they will expand the requirement and any patient will be treated like they do in socialist countries. How much money can we make for our bonus if we have people on a death list.

LA Tells Ambulances to Stop Taking Patients ‘With Little Chance of Survival’ to Hospital
https://thenationalpulse.com/breaking/la-ambulances/

[minnesota_bound]

The NHS will do what they have always done and kill the patient so they can make higher bonus money for themselves.

Google: Liverpool Care Pathway, daily mail
125,000+ people per year killed.

Hospitals bribed to put patients on pathway to death: Cash incentive for NHS trusts that meet targets on Liverpool Care Pathway
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2223286/Hospitals-bribed-patients-pathway-death-Cash-incentive-NHS-trusts-meet-targets-Liverpool-Care-Pathway.html

[gracie1]

Ems tried to resuscitate my husband, then transported him to the hospital where he was declared dead after further attempts.

[MarMema]

What happens in the ER is way beyond ACLS. Medics start ACLS to get the patient a better outcome when they get to the ED. In the ED they can do rapid sequence intubation/LMA/cricothyroidotomy/video laryngoscopy, chest tubes, thoracostomy, CV cath placement, pericardiocentesis, thoracotomy, TC pacing, anything open chest/cardiac massage, the last try of solumedrol, etc...
in New York they cover pts with ice.
Also probably not a cardiac Cath lab available in the field, so if you do get a turnaround you can act on a blockage.

[FoxInSocks]

In terms of cardiac arrest, an ER simply is not “way beyond ACLS.” What truly has been shown to work is quality CPR and early defibrillation.

I think you’re underestimating the current prehospital EMS scope of practice. Paramedics can have RSI, video laryngoscopy, ultrasound, LMA and other supraglottic airways, cricothyrotomy, needle decompression, defibrillation, pacing, cardioversion, etc. Thoracostomy and cardiac massage are unlikely to be indicated in the situations we’re discussing here. There’s not a cath lab in the ED either.

[MarMema]

Well duh. No kidding. But in medium to larger hospitals the Cath lab is a heck of a lot closer than it is to the field.

I have a reading suggestion for you.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15819230-erasing-death

The first chapter alone should help you understand the difference between the field and the ED.
Also not every county has a paramedic available.
And some have none.