For Immediate Release April 22, 2020 Contact: Shaun Marie 518-356-7882 www.cpnys.org @cpnys
Statement by Chairman Gerard Kassar on State Health Department’s New Guidelines for Emergency Responders on Reviving Patients
Brooklyn, NY – Outrageous! Shameful! It is unconscionable to think that the state Health Department would think so little of a human life that they would issue a do-not-resuscitate guideline for cardiac patients amid the coronavirus crisis.
According to today’s NY Post, first responders were issued new guidelines when responding for cardiac patients.
Our first line of defense in a medical emergency is our paramedics – men and women who see heartbreaking emergencies and are exposed to every imaginable highly contagious disease. These extremely professional, dedicated, compassionate men and women deserve every bit of protection possible; but to ask these very same special, loving, caring people to not do everything possible to save another human life, borders on sacrilege. They are trained to save lives; not standby and do nothing to help revived them.
Imagine for one moment watching your loved one die knowing that the paramedics have been told do not resuscitate, especially if there is no health care proxy that states do-not-resuscitate. Think also for one minute, the guilt these dedicated first responders will feel if they are forced to stand by and do nothing.
Yes, these are trying times with hospitals and health care at their breaking points; but every single person, at every level of health care, does what they do because of their dedication to saving lives. And now the bureaucratic bean counters are telling them to just let them die.
The state Health Department defends itself by noting “many areas of the US as well as other locations throughout the world” use this standard – even pre COVID-19.
Why issue these guidelines now? Didn’t Governor Cuomo just tell President Trump that New York no longer needs USNS Comfort? (Thank you, President Trump for providing it when we needed it.) Haven’t we reached the plateau? Haven’t we been told daily that the hospital admissions are decreasing and thankfully, due to the excellent care of our doctors, nurses and first responders, recovery numbers are increasing.
We must end this practice NOW!
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