all 1 comments

[–]Nemacolin[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

This is a big change. No need to waste Hospital capacity on the Dead.

FDNY EMS personnel have been ordered to not transport cardiac arrest patients if they cannot be resuscitated in the field.

The order was made in a letter Tuesday by the Regional Emergency Medical Services Council of New York, which oversees FDNY EMS, to preserve hospital and ambulance resources amidst the COVID-19 crisis, according to the New York Post. Officials said the order is binding and effective immediately.

EMS providers will be instructed to begin compressions and artificial ventilation immediately when the patient is determined not to have a pulse, according to the letter obtained by the Post. However, if the patient cannot be revived on the scene, providers are ordered to stop CPR and declare the patient dead, at which point their body will be turned over to the NYPD.

The order applies to all adult non-traumatic or blunt traumatic cardiac arrests, according to the letter, but patients can be transported is there is a return of spontaneous circulation, a direct order from a medical control physician or imminent physical danger to the provider on the scene.