Los Angeles COVID-19 Crisis: Low Survival Rate Patients Can't Get Hospital Transportation

Los Angeles County residents that have a low survival rate are told to not be transported to hospitals due to a lack of bed space and oxygen supply.

Various hospitals are quickly filling up with COVID-19 patients due to the rapidly rising cases in the state. In April, ambulance workers in New York were also told to not transport patients who had a low chance of survival after arriving at the scene.

The Emergency Medical Services Agenda released an email with information about oxygen supply that stated that only those with less than 90% oxygen saturation should be receiving it when being treated by EMS.

While it might seem like the directive suggests not “wasting” time on those who might not survive after EMS arrives, the claim was debunked by Dr. Marianne Gaushe-Hill, medical director of LA County’s Emergency Services Agency.

“We are not abandoning resuscitation," Dr. Gausche-Hill told CBS News. "We are absolutely doing best practice resuscitation and that do it in the field, do it right away."

“What we're asking is that - which is slightly different than before - is that we are emphasizing the fact that transporting these patients arrested leads to very poor outcomes."We knew that already and we just don't want to impact our hospitals,” she added.

Many hospitals in Los Angeles County have already hit maximum capacity. Hospitals have even treated patients in parking lots, gift shops and outdoor tent areas.

California has seen over 2.5 million cases since the beginning of the pandemic and has had over 27,000 deaths.

Within the past month, the number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals has doubled.