Coronavirus: ER doctor urges people to discuss whether or not they want to be put on a ventilator

An emergency room physician in Montreal is urging families to have discussions in the event a family member is infected with the novel coronavirus and has to be put on a ventilator.

Dr. Mitch Shulman says people are forced to make those difficult decisions in the ER at a very tough time.

“People can deteriorate very rapidly,” Shulman says.

“When they come in and they’re short of breath and not really very with it and very sick and very scared, it’s not really a good time to sit there and say, ‘OK, you have 15 seconds to decide if I’m putting a tube in and taking over your breathing with a machine,'” the doctor said.

“I’m not anticipating this will be a problem, but better to be prepared in advance.”

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Shulman says the discussion is crucial because the implications of being put on a ventilator can be serious.

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The patient, he says, will have to be put into a medically induced coma, be completely paralyzed and intubated and put into a ventilator that takes over their breathing.

According to Shulman, when you have COVID-19, you need to stay on a ventilator for a much longer period of time than for pneumonia, for example.

“The longer you’re on the ventilator, the longer you’re paralyzed, the longer you’re in a medically induced coma, the less the chance that you will come out,” Shulman said.

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He urges family members to have a plan and discuss whether they want to be put on a ventilator while they can still make conscious decisions.

“It’s so important while you’re doing OK to sit down and say, ‘No, I want them to do everything and I’ll take my chances,’ or say, ‘No, I’ve lived a fairly good life. I’m frail, I know I may not make it out of the ventilator and if I do, I’ll be very weak and probably not be able to carry on the way I was before, maybe that isn’t for me.'”

Shulman recommends your closest family members be informed of your decision.