The Los Angeles County Ambulance Crew is told not to transport Covid-19 patients with little chance of survival

The Los Angeles County Ambulance Crew is told not to transport Covid-19 patients with little chance of survival

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Or have a medical emergency and spend hours outside of an emergency.

This is what Los Angeles County is facing as the Covid-19 onslaught destroys the community – including those without coronavirus.

“Hospitals are declaring internal disasters and must open church gyms to serve as hospital units,” said provincial supervisor Hilda Solis. “Our health workers are physically and mentally exhausted and ill.”

And every 15 minutes, one person dies from Covid-19, said Barbara Ferrer, director of public health in Los Angeles.

Now, ambulance staff in LA County have been told to take patients with little chance of survival to hospitals.

“This command, issued by the country’s emergency medical services, is very specific to patients suffering from cardiac arrest and unable to relive in the field,” said Dr. Jeffrey Smith, chief operating officer of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

“The patients each have a very low survival rate when they are transported to the hospital. It is currently considered useless.”

Who is taken to a hospital, and who is not

The Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services Agency (EMS) issued a memorandum to ambulance workers last week.

California activates 'mass death program' due to rising Covid-19 infections

“Immediate effect due to the severe impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on EMS and 9-1-1 hospitalization, adult patients (18 years or older) in blunt traumatic and non-traumatic cardiac arrest outside hospital (OHCA ) will not be transported [if] return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) is not achieved in the field, ‘the agency said.

If the patient has no signs of breathing or pulse, EMS will try to revive the patient for at least 20 minutes, the memo reads.

If the patient is stabilized during the time, they will be taken to a hospital.

But if the patient is pronounced dead at the scene or can not recover any pulse, paramedics will not take the patient to the hospital.

Patients may or may not receive oxygen assistance

The Covid-19 surge has also led to a shortage of supplemental oxygen, meaning some patients treated by EMS will go without.

Oxygen supply problems have forced five Los Angeles hospitals to declare an 'internal disaster'

“Given the acute need to save oxygen, which is effective immediately, EMS should only administer supplemental oxygen to patients with oxygen saturation below 90%,” EMS said in Los Angeles County.

According to EMS, an oxygen saturation of at least 90% is sufficient to maintain the normal circulation of blood to organs and tissues.

Government Gavin Newsom said the province’s oxygen shortage and San Joaquin Valley formed an “oxygen task force” last week.

The task force works with local and state partners to refill oxygen tanks and bring them to the most essential hospitals and facilities.

Holiday events and essential work spread Covid-19

Since about 1 in 9 Americans is the country with the largest population and home, it would make sense for California to have the most Covid-19 cases.

But it is the number of patients admitted to the hospital, and the huge increase that is causing major problems.

“The increase in cases is likely to continue for weeks to come due to holiday and New Year’s Eve parties and returning travelers,” Ferrer said.

“We will probably experience the worst conditions in January that we have experienced the whole pandemic. And that is hard to imagine.”

Experts believe that other reasons also contribute – among others, fatigue in pandemics, resistance to home regulations, the large number of essential workers and socio-economic factors that affect poorer households and minority households.

Ambulances wait hours outside hospitals

Even if patients are lucky enough to get into a hospital, they can languish outside for hours when there is no more room.

“The emergency medical services work very hard to divert ambulances or send them to hospitals that do have the capacity to receive the patients,” said Smith, chief operating officer of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

“There are situations where patients in ambulances have to wait under the care of the paramedics. We want to make sure that the time is as short as possible so that they can get the necessary care.”

For EMT Jimmy Webb, the wait can take several hours.

Hospitals feel the impact of holiday events
“We’re waiting at least two to four hours for a hospital, and now we have to drive even further … then wait another three hours,” Webb told CNC subsidiary KCAL.
Local officials urged the public not to call 911 unless ‘it is really necessary’, said Dr. Marc Eckstein, head of the EMS Fire Department in Los Angeles, told CNN subsidiary KABC.

“One of our biggest challenges is getting our ambulances out of the emergency department,” he said.

“When our paramedics and EMTs transport a patient to an emergency department, care must be transferred. Patients who are unstable or cannot be safely transferred to the waiting room or to a chair need a bed in the emergency department. to be transferred. And the beds are missing at the moment. “

And more ambulances waiting at hospitals means there are fewer ambulances to respond to other 911 calls, leading to even more delays.

The situation could get worse, Eckstein said.

“I think this next four to six week period is going to be critical if our system is taxed,” he said.

CNN’s Jenn Selva and Travis Caldwell contributed to this report.

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