Ambulance Crew Directive Reflects ‘Severity’ of LA Hospital Conditions

Ambulance Crew Directive Reflects ‘Severity’ of LA Hospital Conditions
After administering him with oxygen, Los Angeles County paramedics load a potential Covid-19 patient in an ambulance before transporting him to a hospital in Hawthorne, Calif., on Dec. 29, 2020. Photo by APU GOMES/AFP via Getty Images
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A directive to Los Angeles County emergency crews to avoid bringing adult patients into county hospitals who have little chance of resuscitation, or are proclaimed dead, reflects the seriousness of overstressed hospital conditions during the pandemic, says one expert.

Under the order, emergency medics are not to transport patients to hospitals if “reasonable efforts” to resuscitate have failed.