Reply With Quote
-- and that's the sparsely populated county next to Hidalgo.
https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2020...s-of-survival/
Hospital in Rio Grande Valley could make decisions based on patient’s chances of survival
Starr County Memorial Hospital at full capacity, transferring patients to other cities
Published: July 22, 2020, 10:51 pm
STARR COUNTY, Texas – There is a growing COVID-19 crisis just south of San Antonio in the Rio Grande Valley.
“Emergency rooms are holding patients for hours or days because, basically, we do not have any rooms inside the hospital to put those patients,” said Dr. Jose Vazquez, Starr County health authority.
About 70,000 people live in Starr County, and more than 1,600 of its residents have tested positive for COVID-19.
The county only has one hospital.
“They are being transferred out of the Valley and sometimes out of state. They have gone to far away places just to die thousands of miles away from their home and from their loved ones,” Vazquez said.
Vazquez said the county has limited resources.
Starr County Memorial Hospital said its COVID-19 unit is filled with 29 patients. Its emergency room is also filled with more who have tested positive for the virus. As of Wednesday morning, the hospital held nine patients for admission and transferred two patients to San Antonio hospitals.
Vazquez said the hospital is looking at forming an ethics committee. The team will have to make difficult decisions based on a patient’s chances of survival.
“If we determine that the patient had a very, very small chance to make it alive, (we have) to discuss with that family and present the options, that perhaps it’s more sensible for the patient and for the family ... to go to their home and to offer end of care, end of life care, and compassionate care to them,” Vazquez said.
Vazquez said medical staff from the state and the U.S. Navy are helping the county. He said by the end of the week, the county could issue a shelter in place order.
Neighboring Hidalgo County has already issued a county order mandating people to stay at home and shelter in place. As of tonight, 400 people have died of COVID-19 in Hidalgo County.
-- and that's the sparsely populated county next to Hidalgo.
https://www.borderreport.com/health/...d-19-patients/
Survival potential will determine whether South Texas county hospital takes in COVID-19 patients
'We cannot continue functioning the way things are going. The numbers are staggering,'
by: Sandra Sanchez
Posted: Jul 21, 2020 / 04:35 PM GMT-0600 / Updated: Jul 23, 2020 / 02:30 PM GMT-0600
McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — In a stunning admission of how dire the COVID-19 situation is in South Texas, the health authority for one border county on Tuesday announced the formation of an ethics committee that will screen all patients for survival potential and will send home those with low probabilities.
Starr County Health Authority Dr. Jose Vazquez said Starr County Memorial Hospital, the county’s only hospital, on Tuesday implemented an ethics committee and a triage committee to review all coronavirus patients as they come in to determine what type of life-saving equipment and treatment they would likely require and whether they would likely survive. Those deemed too fragile or sick or elderly will be advised to go home to loved ones, he said.
“There is nowhere to put these patients. The whole state of Texas and neighboring states have no ICU beds to spare for us,” Vazquez said Tuesday afternoon during a video conference call with media.
“We are going to have these committees reviewing each case,” Vazquez said. “End-of-life decisions and ho e decisions and comfort-care situation for all those patients who most certainly do not have any hope of improving we believe they will be better taken care in the love of their own family and home rather than thousands of miles away dying alone.”
Vazquez said the rural county of 61,000 residents has been slammed with cases after Gov. Greg Abbott reopened the state in phases beginning on May 1. The county has had 1,573 cases and 16 deaths with 27 fatality cases pending.
Starr County Judge Eloy Vera blames residents for continuing to gather in groups for weddings, quinceañeras, and pachanga parties where he said communal spread of the novel virus is being propagated. He said physicians are having to make these end-of-life decisions because residents are not making good decisions.
“It is important that we all know the situation that we’re facing in the county, not only the community but the hospital is overwhelmed right now,” Vera said. “Our backs are to the wall.”
“We are not gods or anybody to make a decision for who should live or who should die. However, when you have a mass-casualty situation there are guidelines that makes you work in a more efficient manner and to help save the maximum number of people,” said Vazquez, who added in his entire career as a physician he has never experienced such a desperate mass medical situation.
Starr County has an eight-bed COVID-19 unit at its hospital, but currently there are 28 patients with three on ventilators and life support, including one in the emergency room. Vazquez said physicians will be using a mass-casualty treatment plan devised by physicians in North Texas to determine who gets treatment and who does not.
“The number of cases we see in the ER are growing every day; 50% of cases in the ER are COVID. The situation is desperate. We cannot continue functioning at Starr County Memorial Hospital the way things are going. The numbers are staggering,” Vazquez said.
Vera said he will likely issue shelter-at-home orders later this week, probably by Thursday, similar to orders that took effect this week in neighboring Hidalgo County. The orders are not legally binding since the governor’s reopening orders supersede local authority, but Vera said he hopes residents will voluntarily comply.
Vera said a mobile refrigerated truck has been loaned to Hidalgo County to help store bodies with the agreement that Starr County can use it if necessary. Also two Navy doctors with intensive care training have come to help. But Vera said daily patients are being airlifted to hospitals in other cities in Texas and other states.
“There’s more danger now than we’ve ever had,” Vera said.
Stephen Himmler Miller will wade in and solve this crisis of his beloved brown people
They're already here. They're called insurance companies and hospital management.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions