COVID surge creates shortage of hospital ICU beds

[BeckyDem]

Fri, August 27, 2021, 8:37 AM

The surge in new COVID cases is putting an enormous strain on hospitals across the country, making it difficult for them to treat people with other health emergencies. "CBS This Morning" lead national correspondent David Begnaud reports on a tragic case: A U.S. veteran in Bellville, Texas, who couldn't get the medical attention he needed because of a lack of space.


https://finance.yahoo.com/finance/video/covid-surge-creates-shortage-hospital-123748368.html

The young man is dead because no facility could take him for a life saving procedure as a result of Covid cases overwhelming hospitals.

[leftstreet]

1. Guess the invisible hand of the market didn't see this coming

For profit healthcare systems are being exposed here for their inability to meet and maintain the necessary infrastructure for public good

[BeckyDem]

2. Yes, and the longer more Americans refuse to be vaccinated the worse this will get.

[marie999]

3. If all hospitals had to maintain ICU beds in case of a pandemic costs would go up.

When was the last time this many ICU beds were needed on a national level?

[leftstreet]

5. Non profit infrastructure could help prevent that need

From national shutdowns/paying people to stay home, mailing out masks and testing kits, to trusted local patient and healthcare relationships

Not everyone has insurance, or access to a primary care doc. Millions get their healthcare from ERs as it is

[Sgent]

4. Um... this is a Vet

who is in government-run healthcare.

[marie999]

7. We are also.

We used the Oakland Park clinic in Florida until 2001 and since then Jacksonville-Wilmington North Carolina clinics. Both are great. The problem with the system is that Congress will not budget enough for the VA to hire the 40,000 more doctors, nurses, and technicians they need to handle all the veterans that use the system. Luckily for us, the VA Community Care uses many non-VA specialists so we do not have to wait to see any kind of doctor. I realize that in some places the VA healthcare system does not work as well as it should.

[Lettuce Be]

6. Why can't they designate a certain number of beds for Covid or a separate ward?

Leaving a certain number of beds available for the usual cases -- there has always been a need for the ICU. I spent a week there myself a couple years ago. ICU is lifesaving for people in accidents, strokes, cancer, and on and on. It is immoral to use ALL available resources to try to save Covid patients that couldn't be bothered to even wear a mask. Non-vaccinated need to go to the end of the line -- meaning those who otherwise could get the vaccine but choose not to.

Personally I think they should just create separate Covid wards, and when those beds are full so be it. What they are doing now is wrong and triage isn't working when they let people with no chance of surviving stay on vents while their families argue about when to pull the plug.

[haele]

8. Because the hospitals are for profit and that costs money.

Even if the Federal and State governments will give them money to build COVID ICUs, the bean counters might consider it too expensive to build a new unit back when the money was first available last year.

It takes a couple months to a year at least to build, equip, and man the new unit. Not something that can built overnight in an emergency.


One of our local hospitals used Federal and State funds to build 2 more ICU wards for COVID, because they knew they would need extra ICU wards anyway after COVID due to population growth. To them, it was an investment.
Most private or "international investment group owned" hospitals don't think that far ahead. They will cut staff if their quarterly returns drop and don't recover quickly enough. And getting new equipment to replace old? Forget about it.

Haele