LA EMS workers told not to transport patients who are unlikely to survive to hospitals

Hospitals are so overwhelmed by coronavirus patients that the Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services Agency has issued guidelines that ambulances should stop transporting patients to hospitals if they have virtually no chance of survival, including those with hearts and breathing have stopped and that cannot be resuscitated by paramedics.

The agency also issued a directive on Monday ordering ambulance teams to administer less oxygen. Supplies were strained due to pandemic.

CBS Los Angeles reports that a memo sent Dec. 28 by LA County Emergency Medical Services Agency medical director Dr Marianne Gausche-Hill explained how first responders should treat victimized patients stroke and heart attack. The memo said a patient should first be treated at the scene and have a pulse during resuscitation before being transported to hospital.

Since the memo began circulating online, many people have questioned whether first responders would refuse to bring stroke and heart attack patients to hospital due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Gausche-Hill told CBS Los Angeles officials continue to do whatever they can to save the lives of patients on the scene and in the hospital, as they always have.

“We are not giving up on resuscitation,” Gausche-Hill said. “We’re doing absolutely the best practice of resuscitation and that’s doing it in the field, doing it right away … What we’re asking is that – which is slightly different than before – is that we insist on the fact that the transport of these arrested patients leads to very poor results. We already knew that and we just don’t want to impact our hospitals. “

Treating heart attack and stroke patients at the scene rather than on the way to hospitals can increase the chances of survival, Gausche-Hill said.

Some older hospitals in Southern California have oxygen systems that can’t keep up with demand, and the state contracts with the Army Corps of Engineers to upgrade the systems. Giant oxygen containers can also be placed in hospital parking lots as a backup.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health reported 9,142 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 77 additional deaths on Monday, bringing the county’s total to 827,498 cases and 10,850 deaths.