April 2, 2020

a puzzle for Wednesday evening

https://twitter.com/NickPonticello/status/1245457341375373312

April 1, 2020

Alabama plan for who doesn't get ventilated: severe Retarded, dementia, Cancer, HIV, severe burns

https://twitter.com/MillerCrime/status/1242888237993123841

https://www.al.com/news/2020/03/last-resort-alabamas-plan-for-deciding-which-coronavirus-patients-get-ventilators.html

In the coming weeks, difficult decisions about who will live and who will die in Alabama may hinge on a little-discussed document outlining the state’s suggested “criteria for mechanical ventilator triage” during pandemics like the current COVID-19 outbreak.

According to the state document, any of a wide range of underlying health conditions – such as metastasized cancer, AIDS, “severe mental retardation,” advanced dementia and “severe burns” – could disqualify patients from being put on potentially lifesaving ventilators if a pandemic grows dire enough. And some people already on ventilators could be removed from them to make space for people impacted by the pandemic, according to the guidance.