Are ventilators being used too often and too soon?

There seems to be some increasing suspicion that ventilators for coronovirus patients are being used too quickly, sometimes incorrectly and sometimes unnecessarily, and actually hurting patients. Discuss.

Quote:

(NEW YORK) — As health officials around the world push to get more ventilators to treat coronavirus patients, some doctors are moving away from using the breathing machines when they can. The reason: Some hospitals have reported unusually high death rates for coronavirus patients on ventilators, and some doctors worry that the machines could be harming certain patients.

https://time.com/5818547/ventilators-coronavirus/

Quote:

The number of ventilators could be increased, and the shortage of sedatives, respiratory therapists and nurses lessened, by getting people off ventilators faster and making those same machines available for the next patients sooner. That would improve the heartbreaking crisis of depersonalization and isolation felt by covid-19 patients and their families. A protocol already developed over the past 20 years and tested in thousands of patients in critical care successfully shortens time on mechanical ventilation, reduces coma and delirium, accelerates getting out of bed even if in isolation and increases survival.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlo...mments-wrapper

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But while hospitals and health care workers grapple with the grim reality that they may soon be forced to deny potentially life-saving treatments to certain patients due to a lack of supplies, some doctors are raising questions about how ventilators are currently being used on coronavirus patients — and whether they may actually be doing more harm than good. Early reporting on coronavirus deaths from China, Italy and the U.S. show that more than half — and as many as two-thirds — of COVID-19 patients who are placed on ventilators don’t survive. “What we’re doing now is not working, and I think making the same mistake over and over is a sign of stupidity,” Dr. Paul Marik told Yahoo News. “If it’s not working, we’ve got to look for something else.”

https://news.yahoo.com/rethinking-co...123733204.html

Quote:

As health officials around the world push to get more ventilators to treat patients, some doctors are moving away from using the breathing machines when they can. The reason: Some hospitals have reported unusually high death rates for coronavirus patients on ventilators, and some doctors worry that the machines could be harming certain patients.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ors-early.html

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