EDMONTON — The head of emergency medicine for the Alberta Medical Association says major components of triage have already begun in Alberta.
Dr. Paul Parks said that in recent days, some critically ill COVID-19 patients who should be on ventilators are not getting them. That's on top of previously announced mass cancellations of surgeries, along with patient transfers, as doctors balance medical need with available space, he said.
Parks said it has become routine in hospitals in the last two weeks to have some critically ill patients — most of them unvaccinated COVID-19 cases — kept on main wards rather than in intensive care units on ventilators because they don't have the resources.
“We already are in positions in many hospitals across Alberta where the doctors know that it would be best for this patient to be in ICU and be on a ventilator, but we're not providing that option until they absolutely deteriorate to the point of crashing,” Parks said Friday in an interview.
“We already are implementing some of these things that are drastic and we wish we never would have.
“People will suffer and will die by this.”
Parks said it's not at the point where doctors must make on-the-spot, life-and-death decisions. But he said that's not far away and, when it comes, the second stage of triage will follow quickly, including making those same decisions about children.
Alberta Health Services is doing everything it can, he said, but the government has failed to lead by imposing lax health restrictions and by allowing mass gatherings, including in schools and at sports events.
Alberta is seeing well over 1,000 new COVID-19 cases a day.
Parks said there needs to be an immediate response, including mandatory mask mandates everywhere and shutting down schools and mass gatherings.
Dr. Verna Yiu, head of Alberta Health Services, said Thursday that one key reason intensive care wards have not been overwhelmed is because enough COVID-19 patients are dying to free up bed space.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 24, 2021.
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Wow! This is tragic...even
Wow! This is tragic...even more so because it was preventable. I don't think Jason Kenney is a psychopath like Governor Ron Death Sentence in Florida but he might as well be in this case.
I don't think I'd be going to any Flames games, double vaxxed or not.
Perhaps this is what we get
Perhaps this is what we get when ideology and a grim determination to 'stop fearmongering' and get back to normal are more influential than the precautionary principle. The Kenney government gambled on 'the best summer ever' and lost. Anti vaccer's may be the main victims, if you overlook those needing surgery for other health issues, but our hospitals and our medical staff could be the collateral damage.
Covid keeps bringing us more bad news about who we are, really, and what we value, really. We need to get smarter, and quickly, but in Conservative Alberta, that's going to be a challenge.
"People will suffer and die
"People will suffer and die by this." Does anyone out there have any idea how absolutely PAINFUL such a realization is to a health care professional?!! As a retired nurse, I will declare how diligently every co-worker commits to what's called "BEST PRACTISE", to the point that we are mandated by GOVERNMENT LEGISLATION to do so!!
So in this so-called "first-world" health care system of ours, it is nothing short of ABSOLUTELY CRIMINAL that a government like Alberta's perpetrated such a disaster on it's people!!
That said, the anti-vaxxers who don't comprehend the "PUBLIC" nature of PUBLIC HEALTH need to be treated in the militaristic way public health must be delivered in a pandemic! Either that or they must be removed from society to where they can't be a threat to anyone else. Any confusion about the incorrect application of such legislation as the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in a pandemic MUST be cleared up! Just recall how vaccinations were delivered in the past, and how many communicable diseases have been eradicated!
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