Quote Originally Posted by azcavalier View Post
Oh, definitely something to think about. My wife is a surgeon, and before COVID-19 was even a twinkle in our eye we have had this discussion. She has seen so many patients that come in with such complications, related to age/poor health, and they are clearly suffering and the quality of life is (and will be after) terrible. But the family wants *everything possible* done to keep them alive. They'd rather rack up tens of thousands of dollars in hospital bills to keep 85-year old, demented Grandma alive indefinitely with machine-assistance than just let her go peacefully. Is it worth it?

Now, we're talking about hospitals having to decide who gets a ventilator and who doesn't. It's going to come down to survivability, which will include age, co-morbidity factors (health issues), etc.

Religiously, all life has value. We'd like to see everyone be healed. Every life's value is immeasurable. But economically/socially, that is a terrible choice.
That’s why economics should never play a part in a very personal decision. My wife is also in healthcare and bothers her when someone wants everything done knowing the effects CPR will have on a 90 year old patient. But....If a person or their family wants to rack up the debit let them make that choice.

In this case though it won’t be a choice for families to make due to lack of equipment and staffing unless we collectively make an effort to stop the spread which in turn has consequences on our economy. It is also not a choice to get this virus by most people (South Korean cults excluded). While I sympathize with people and their monthly bills...it is secondary to saving lives at this time.

We’ve gone through tough times before (1918, WW1, Great Depression, WW2, Korean War, Vietnam, 1987 crash, tech bust, 9/11, and the Great Recession to name a few) and came through okay and will do so again....after we beat this virus.