I find the triage guidelines--and actual practices--that I have seen
described anywhere, and medical discussions thereof, very disturbing.
Some are posited as caring for the patients most likely to survive.
However, doctors are not omniscient. Overloaded hospitals are spending
very little time with individual patients. For example, they are
supposed to check and adjust ventilator settings often. In this
situation, they don't. Covid-19 and its treatment are not well known
yet. Doctors don't actually have a great grasp of who is most likely to
survive.
Worse, it's clear that in an overloaded hospital, very few patients can
legitimately be written off as very, very old and/or already in the grip
of clearly fatal conditions aside from Covid-19. Then triage gets to
things like "value to society." Which is apparently sometimes determined
as paid work, not volunteering, and not any other kind of value like
being loved and needed by an elderly spouse. Or "number of years left
to live." My father lived into his mid 80s. My mother lived into her mid
90s. Some of my former coworkers died in their 50s or even their 40s.
Unless the person already has some other really nasty condition, there's
no way doctors can know what a lifespan will be. Or "quality of life."
I'm healthy and my quality of life is just fine. It's also just fine
for many people who have various conditions such as diabetes but who,
with treatment for that, are getting along well. I won't even get into
the disabilities strikes against treating people, which I know less
about. But they exist. Some doctors have even publicly said, everyone's
going to die anyway, so what does it matter if you die now?
I have seen many doctors assert that as long as triage guidelines are
transparent--which often they are not--that people will accept them.
The only guidelines I'd accept for myself or a loved one are a fair
lottery. But then, doctors say they can't do that because they might end
up treating a few people who are very, very old and in the grip of some
other fatal disease.
I've always assumed my "value to society"--and that of most other
people--is about average. Which is fine. I am deeply offended by the
many public statements that a person younger than 60 or 65 is
automatically "worth more." I am the same person I was when I was
64--even 59. My state of health is the same, as far as I know. I have
no way of testing my immune system, but I don't seem to be especially
prone to catching diseases in general. Because Covid-19 is highly
contagious, well, that's another story.
I'm staying inside, but it's impossible for neither of us to avoid
picking up groceries and so on. Whenever my husband or I gets a cold,
the other one always catches it. I can't figure out whether I should get
a BCAP machine (if I even can) and a baby monitor (which some people use
to check on ill members in the household frequently without entering the
sickroom). I did buy a pulse oximeter early on. Also a stack of paper
plates and plastic utensils to use if one of us becomes ill. My take
is, you're pretty much on your own here.
I also believe signing a Do not resuscitate
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_not_resuscitate> order is a very bad
idea. I have no firm information on this, but in this situation I
suspect it's often interpreted as "don't give me a ventilator."
Fran
Lavolta Press
www.lavoltapress.com
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