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DisgustedByMisleadia 26 points ago +28 / -2

You have to read the rest of the sentence:

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.

The survival percentage isn't much different than before COVID-19.

A ventilator is intended to keep the patient alive until their body can fight off whatever is compromising their lung function. If the patient cannot do so, death is inevitable.

At the point someone is put on a ventilator, they are already dying. If your oxygen saturation drops below 80%, damage to your brain and major organs begins. At that point, a ventilator is the last chance you have. Without it, your chance of death is 100%.

Ideally, the patient can be treated with 100% oxygen (at atmospheric pressure) first, or even a CPAP (which only partially assists with breathing). But, if the patient's oxygen saturation continues to decline, there aren't any other alternatives.

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ChaplainTappman 6 points ago +6 / -0

This makes a lot of sense. Thank you!

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deleted 4 points ago +6 / -2
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DisgustedByMisleadia 4 points ago +5 / -1

Full disclosure: I'm not a physician, nor do I play one on TV (or TD.win).

But, I lost a family member to pneumonia, and a ventilator was a last resort to give her a chance to fight off the infection. Unfortunately, it didn't work.

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deleted 3 points ago +3 / -0
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DisgustedByMisleadia 3 points ago +4 / -1

Thanks, I appreciate that.

I expect my stalker to chime in soon and claim I made it up.

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Rickkybobby 1 point ago +2 / -1

Nail on the head. Ya people still die on it but it would be higher without it. Alot of people die when helicopters auto rotate down but like vents, it is oftentimes a last resort move

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Paek -1 points ago +1 / -2

Before COVID-19 was declared as a pandemic. I've put hundreds of people on a vent and can count on my hands how many have died