Henry Ford Health: Letter spread on social media part of ‘absolute worst case scenario’ policy, not active – WDIV ClickOnDetroit

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

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.