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Doctors will have help with any 91Ƶdistressing decisions91Ƶ around which COVID-19 patients get ventilators

Provincial health officer says ethical framework in place
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B.C. provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry speaks about COVID-19 at a press conference Saturday, March 21, in Vancouver. (B.C. Government video still)

Doctors facing potentially 91Ƶdistressing decisions91Ƶ around distribution of ventilators to patients will have guidelines and support, says B.C.91Ƶs top doctor.

When asked if there are enough ventilator units in the Island Health area and whether doctors would have to choose who would receive them, Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C. health officer, said the province has a strategy in place for that.

91ƵNo single physician will have to make those decisions in isolation,91Ƶ Henry said during media availability Saturday, March 21. 91ƵWe have an ethical framework and we have a provincial framework that supports how those decisions might be made, if and when they were ever necessary. But all of our planning is to support each facility around the province to make sure that we can react to where people are and where people are needing care, so this is not something that an individual physician will have to do on their own.

91ƵThese are terribly distressing decisions and I think it91Ƶs a reflection of the concern and what we91Ƶre seeing around the world that puts us in moral distress. We talk about it in the ethical world and we have a plan. We91Ƶve been working on our ethical framework for this type of a situation for many years.91Ƶ

As of Thursday, March 19, Island Health said it has 96 intensive care unit beds available and 140 ventilators, 22 of which are transport ventilators.

According to numbers provided by Henry on Saturday, there 424 cases of COVID-19 across the province, including 37 on Vancouver Island. Of all B.C. residents diagnosed, 27 are in hospital, 12 people are in intensive care and six have fully recovered.

B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix said everyone must contribute in order to curb the pandemic.

91ƵThat is why all of the steps we91Ƶre asking people to take, to stop the spread of COVID-19, require 100 support,91Ƶ said Dix at the press conference. 91ƵBecause our ability that we are making significant changes in the health care system, we still have to take care of lots of people who are dealing with lots of other things and continue to make intervention in urgent matters 91Ƶ and that responsibility is collective and it91Ƶs also individual on everybody out there. On Vancouver Island and everywhere else.91Ƶ

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-with files from Nina Grossman, Black Press


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Karl Yu

About the Author: Karl Yu

I joined Black Press in 2010 and cover education, court and RDN. I am a Ma Murray and CCNA award winner.
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