A New York hospital has begun splitting ventilators to use on two patients instead of one, according to The New York Times, a sign of the dire shortage of ventilators in the state as the coronavirus spreads.
Jeremy Beitler, a doctor at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, told the Times that the hospital has not yet run out of ventilators, but is preparing for that possibility by trying the splitting technique now before they “have absolutely no choice.”
A shortage of ventilators, machines that allow seriously ill patients to breathe and stay alive, is one of the top concerns of the coronavirus crisis.