In NY's largest hospital system, 88 percent of coronavirus patients on ventilators didn't make it

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Health

In New York’s largest hospital system, 88 percent of coronavirus patients on ventilators didn’t make it

New data shows many of those hospitalized had high blood pressure, obesity or diabetes

By Ariana Eunjung Cha
April 22, 2020 at 5:47 p.m. EDT

Throughout March, as the pandemic gained momentum in the United States, much of the preparations focused on the breathing machines that were supposed to save everyone’s lives. ... New York State Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) and President Trump sparred over how many ventilators the state was short. DIYers brainstormed modifications to treat more patients. And ethicists agonized over how to allocate them fairly if we run out.

Now five weeks into the crisis, a paper published in the journal JAMA about New York State’s largest health system suggests a reality that like so much else about the novel coronavirus, confounds our early expectations. ... Researchers found that 20 percent of all those hospitalized died — a finding that’s similar to the percentage who perish in normal times among those who are admitted for respiratory distress.

But the numbers diverge more for the critically ill put on ventilators. Eighty-eight percent of the 320 covid-19 patients on ventilators who were tracked in the study died. That compares with the roughly 80 percent of patients who died on ventilators before the pandemic, according to previous studies — and with the roughly 50 percent death rate some critical care doctors had optimistically hoped when the first cases were diagnosed.

“For those who have a severe enough course to require hospitalization through the emergency department it is a sad number,” said Karina W. Davidson, the study’s lead author and a professor at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research at Northwell.

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Ariana Eunjung Cha
Ariana Eunjung Cha is a national reporter. She has previously served as The Post's bureau chief in Shanghai and San Francisco, and as a correspondent in Baghdad. Follow https://twitter.com/arianaeunjung

[lark]

1. Heartbreaking shocking reality.

I feel so sad for all of them and their loved ones. Having to make a decision to take someone off the vent because they can't make it on their own is the worst thing in the world.