LA County Orders Ambulance Crews Not to Transport Patients With ‘Little Chance of Survival’

Los Angeles ambulance crew members have been instructed not to transport patients with “little chance of survival” to local hospitals as ICUs near capacity.

After administering him with oxygen, Los Angeles paramedics load a potential COVID-19 patient in the ambulance before transporting him to a hospital in Hawthorne, California, on Dec. 29, 2020. Apu Gomes/AFP via Getty Images

Los Angeles ambulance crew members have been instructed not to transport patients with “little chance of survival” to local hospitals as ICUs near capacity across the county.

In a directive (pdf) issued by the Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services Agency Monday, ambulance workers were also told to conserve the use of oxygen in the state’s most populous county, which currently has an infection rate of 138 per 100,000, according to California’s tracking dashboard.