Experts optimistic medical equipment rationing won't be needed
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An N95 surgical mask
Several of the leading medical experts who developed the state's controversial plan to ration access to life-saving equipment like ventilators if the surge of coronavirus patients overwhelmed the hospital system say they no longer believe those standards will be necessary.
"A lot of the work we're doing is to prevent the crisis standards from ever having to be activated," said Dr. Michael Wagner, the chief physician executive of Wellforce. "I believe we will be able to achieve that directive."
The committee of doctors, public health experts and medical ethicists that developed the crisis standards of care revised their two-week-old guidelines this week to reflect concerns voiced by state and federal lawmakers about their impact on underserved minority communities.
Three doctors who sat on that panel presented the revisions on Thursday to the state Public Health Council.
The revised guidelines now advise hospitals to take into account a patient's chances of near-term survival over the next five years rather than trying to maximize life-years, which would have prioritized younger patients with COVID-19 and those without underlying health conditions.
"Once the guidelines were released there was a lot of public feedback that was super helpful and we quickly realized that we needed to make a change," said Dr. Robert Truog, director for the Center for Bioethics at Harvard Medical School.
Still, Truog and Dr. Emily Rubin, a critical care pulmonologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, said they're cautiously optimistic that no hospital in Massachusetts will have to make these types of decisions.
"I don't think we will need them," Truog said.
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