Oregon rations medical care

Here we are.  At the point where one cannot assume there will be a bed at a hospital, just because he or she is sick - sick with a potentially deadly disease.  

Unlike New York City where priority for medical care is given to people based on skin color, Oregon's plan will triage people the traditional way by admitting those who would not survive without hospital services.  Patients are ranked by need - by the individual - not by membership in some non-medical  identity group.  

Thank you Oregon Health Authority!  

You got this right.  

As a side note - people we know (one a respiratory therapist) left Portland in the fall because of the growing crime rate and chaotic, far-left political environment.  They wound up working in hospitals in Anchorage Alaska where the level of care and equipment are not as modern and sophisticated as you would find in Portland.  Perhaps this is because we have a medical school in the state, but you still need good doctors who want to live here.  

This is a red alert to left-leaning activists, Antifa, anyone who thinks criminal justice means criminals are not held accountable for their crimes (rioting, damaging pro[erty, arson, assault, attempted murder, harassment, etc.), plus a host of other restrictive regulations that make living in the state more expensive (fossil-free future, luxury tax on new cars, toll roads, rising utility rates), and more controlling (extending and never ending emergency declarations, interference with businesses, control over one's body), and more.  Oregon is not the place it used to be, so be careful that you aren't pushing out the smart, creative, hardworking people in all professions we need here.  When things go to pot, it  takes years - decades to bring them back.  

Oregon could ration medical care as largest wave of pandemic hits the state

• By GARY A. WARNER Oregon Capital Bureau

Oregon is on a "red alert" of the growing wave of the omicron variant of COVID-19 that pushed the daily new case count to 10,451 Friday, eclipsing the records set over the past four days.

"Once again, COVID-19 has regrouped and is marching across Oregon," said Dr. Dean Sidelinger, the state chief epidemiologist, in a Friday press call.

With the new wave forecast to peak on Jan. 27 with 1,650 people in the hospital, the Oregon Health Authority issued a "crisis care" protocol to guide doctors on prioritizing possibly life-or-death care.

Based on a model already used by Washington and other states, patients who would not survive if discharged have top priority. Patients already under care take precedence over newly arriving cases of the same level.

If a choice needs to be made between two patients in similar medical situations, the decision will be made at random using a "triage algorithm" provided by OHA.

"This is a very difficult topic to consider and work on," said Dana Hargunani, Oregon Health Authority chief medical officer. 

OHA said the protocol was "interim" because it is being implemented without the normal level of review and public comment. Revisions will be considered in the future.

 

click on the title to read the entire article in the Capital Insider.