Texas hospital forced to set up 'death panel' as Covid-19 cases surge

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

A surge in coronavirus cases in rural Texas has forced one hospital to set up “death panels” to decide which patients it can save and which ones will be sent home to die.

Doctors at Starr County Memorial hospital, the only hospital in Starr county, have been issued with critical care guidelines to decide which Covid-19 patients it will treat and which ones will be sent home because they are likely to die. The committee is being formed to alleviate the hospital’s limited medical resources so doctors can focus on patients with higher survival rates.

Starr county began experiencing increases in coronavirus cases in early July, with 1,769 confirmed cases reported as of 24 July, 17 confirmed fatalities and 33 fatalities pending confirmation from the state. The county had gone several weeks in the early months of the coronavirus pandemic without reporting any cases. Starr county, along the US-Mexico border, has a population of around 64,000 people.

Officials blamed social gatherings for the surge in cases.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/texas-hospital-forced-set-death-060017923.html

"There are more important things than living." - Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick

[JI7]

1. So Trump brought about the death panels that right wing claimed

Obama was going to do.

[jpak]

2. Ding ding ding

[magicarpet]

3. Eeny, meeny, miny, moe,... you voted Red,... you're okay,..

... you voted Blue,... bye bye,... see ya.

[TexasTowelie]

4. This story has been posted on DU repeatedly over the past few days including today

and using better sources than Yahoo! news. I think that it has been discussed thoroughly.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016263580
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213801675 (your own thread)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213796030

[still_one]

5. This is bullshit. Why can't they send those patients to other hospitals around the state?

[TexasTowelie]

6. The other hospitals in the Rio Grande Valley are already full.

The same applies to the hospitals in Laredo and Corpus Christi. There might be available beds in San Antonio, but that is over 200 miles and they probably need to reserve that capacity for the nearby residents.

A couple days ago there was a report about the hospital in Anahuac which is east of Houston. They had to ship a patient to the hospital in El Campo which is 80 miles southwest of Houston. I've stayed at the county-run Memorial Hospital in El Campo a couple years ago when a cat bit me on the calf and it became infected. That facility was built in either the late 50s or early 60s and it looks it--rusty plumbing fixtures, narrow hallways, and puke green paint. It's a sign of desperation if they had to transport a patient over 100 miles to find a hospital with the admission capacity.

[still_one]

9. What bothers me is they aren't doing what NY did when they ran out of beds

They setup temporary hospitals, on ships, with Corps of engineers help

They are writing people off, and that bothers me

Also, why doesn’t the jackass exercise the defense production act for testing, PPEs, etc.

[hamsterjill]

11. Exactly!!!

Where are the field hospitals, etc.? There has been no federal help.

[TexasTowelie]

14. In the case of Starr County,

there are no ships and I doubt that there are any convention centers or other public sites to be converted to temporary hospitals (the population in the county is 65,000). Therefore, the only other sites available are tents. The temperatures in the RGV at this time of the year are in the upper 90s or over 100 degrees, plus I doubt that the county officials wanted to set up a temporary hospital when there is a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico with the projected landfall anywhere in Texas. We've had heavy showers here in Bryan, Texas yesterday and today and we are 380 miles away from the RGV.

Even if they set up a temporary hospital, I doubt that there is the proper equipment or staffing for treating patients since the state has already sent additional medical personnel to Laredo and Hidalgo county which is adjacent to Starr county. I believe that the nearby facilities in Mexico are in worse shape regarding over-crowding than the Texas facilities.

[mucifer]

7. This was happening in NYC when they had crazy high acuity and death

[still_one]

10. Actually they opened the Convention Center, built temporary hospitals with the Army Corp of Engineer

[keithbvadu2]

8. Death panels by repub Abbot who said TX had plenty of hospital beds.

Death panels by repub Abbot who said TX had plenty of hospital beds.

[lpbk2713]

12. Comorbidity?

"Here. Let me show you to the door."

[Hoyt]

13. NY had similar emergency plans, but never used them. Doesn't appear Starr

County has either. I can see a hospital putting patients in a makeshift Hospice, but sending them home without even palliative care should be a crime.

NY’s plan didn’t send patients home, but it did call for rationing ventilators, etc., if it came to that point.