Ambulances in New York City will no longer transport patients whose heart cannot be restarted at the scene to the hospital because of the coronavirus pandemic.
With the city's hospitals overrun with patients and intensive care units full of people on ventilators because of COVID-19 infections, EMTs and paramedics were issued new guidance this week regarding patients who have gone into cardiac arrest.
Medics are trained to attempt to restart those patients' hearts at the scene before bringing them to the hospital. Under the new guidance, according to the New York Post, the bodies should be left at the scene if attempts to restart the hearts fail.
A veteran EMS worker told the Post, "They're trying to do what they can with the people who have the most likely chance of being saved.
"If you can't get revived on scene, that's it. They're going to work on you, but if they can't get a pulse back, they won't transport you" to the hospital.
The directive came from the Regional Emergency Medical Services Council of New York on Tuesday. The Post obtained a copy of the letter.
New York has seen nearly 100,000 cases of the virus and almost 2,500 deaths, both of which are the most nationwide.
The memo to first responders reads, in part: "No adult non-traumatic or blunt traumatic cardiac arrest is to be transported to a hospital with manual or mechanical compression in progress without either return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) or a direct order from a medical control physician unless there is imminent physical danger to the EMS provider on the scene.
"In the event a resuscitation is terminated, and the body is in public view, the body can be left in the custody of the NYPD."
More than 5,000 Americans and nearly 50,000 people worldwide have died of the COVID-19 virus. The global number of cases was approaching 1 million midday Thursday. The U.S. has seen more than 226,000 cases, most of which are still active.