With all of the panic about the number of cases of the H1N1 and A/H1N1 will there be enough ventilators to go around if they are needed for treatment?

If one of your loved ones was terminally ill or injured would you be asked to take them off of the ventilator so that it could be used to save the life of another critically ill person?

Would you do it in a time of crisis?

As much as I hate to think about something like this happening it is a possibility.

What would you do?

It's the lifeboat concept.

A six person lifeboat can only hold six with any degree of safety. When the other four or five in the water get close to the boat, rather than let them hold on or try to get in, you split their heads with an oar.

Same thing happens in battlefield triage. Those with little hope are ignored, or mercifully, given an overdose of Morphine.

Shortages require hard decisions.

And this BS is going to cause nothing but shortages.

You do know that terminally ill patients always end up dying that is why they are called terminally ill.

So, if a doctor had to make a choice I sure hope he would help the one that has a chance of surviving.

It is called triage.

Triage (pronounced /ˈtriɑʒ/) is a process of prioritizing patients based on the severity of their condition. This rations patient treatment efficiently when resources are insufficient for all to be treated immediately.

Well, I think if triage is necessary in the coming health care system, all the old farts in congress and the other branches should be given the morphine first. What say you?

You know in triage, their is one other thing to take into consideration. You always cut out the dead weight first.