DETROIT – A letter making the rounds on social media from Henry Ford Health System is real, but it’s not active — right now.
The letter lays out a plan for doctors to have to decide which patients to care for in the event of a ventilator shortage. The letter was spread on social media on Thursday.
RELATED: Henry Ford Health System: 282 COVID-19 patients being treated at 5 Michigan hospitals
A concerned reaction is normal and it’s caused some people to question if they should go to different hospital or even go to a different part of the state for care.
That’s not a good idea.
In an emergency situation, you should always go to the nearest appropriate hospital.
UPDATE — March 27, 2020: Michigan coronavirus (COVID-19) cases up to 3,657; Death toll now at 92
Additionally, hospital systems across the country are drafting letters just like the one that was prematurely released by someone inside the Henry Ford Health System. In fact, multiple versions of the letter were shared with other hospitals as medical ethicists and physicians work together to make plans.
The contents of the letter were clear — it described the course that will be necessary when crisis care is reached and hospitals are no longer able to provide standard care. Every hospital system has similar contingency plans.
RELATED: Surgeon general on pandemic: Detroit will worsen next week
The letter does not represent any currently-active policy at any hospital in Michigan, but its existence behind a virtual break-glass-in-case-of-emergency barrier is a clear message that if things don’t turn around, decisions like these will be necessary.
Henry Ford Health told Local 4: “This letter is part of a larger policy document developed for an absolute worst case scenario. It is not an active policy within Henry Ford, but, is part of our emergency response planning, as is standard with most reputable health systems.”
This statement was also released from Dr. Adnan Munkarah, EVP & Chief Clinical Officer, Henry Ford Health System:
“With a pandemic of this nature, health systems must be prepared for a worst case scenario. Gathering the collective wisdom from across our industry, we carefully crafted our policy to provide critical guidance to healthcare workers for making difficult patient care decisions during an unprecedented emergency. These guidelines are deeply patient focused, intended to be honoring to patients and families. We were pleased to share our policy with our colleagues across Michigan to help others develop similar, compassionate approaches. It is our hope we never have to apply them and we will always do everything we can to care for our patients, utilizing every resource we have to make that happen.”
Last week, a doctor from Beaumont Health had to retract a text message that caused panic on social media.
Anyone who believes they might have coronavirus should follow the CDC guidelines. Michigan.gov has a list of resources available to those concerned about COVID-19.
More information on coronavirus (COVID-19):
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