By Lizzie Day • Published: 15 Mar 2020 • 13:28
Italian town at the centre of the coronavirus pandemic is holding a funeral every 30 minutes after 146 people died in a week.
Intensive care capacity is running short in Italy as the killer coronavirus continues to spread.
The unit has drawn up a plan, seen by The Telegraph, that will determine which patients receive treatment in intensive care and which do not if there are insufficient spaces.
The document, produced by the civil protection deparment of the Piedmont region, one of those hardest hit, says: ‘The criteria for access to intensive therapy in cases of emergency must include age of less than 80 or a score on the Charlson comorbidity Index [which indicates how many other medical conditions the patient has] of less than 5.’
The ability of the patient to recover from resuscitation will also be considered.
One doctor said: ‘[Who lives and who dies] is decided by age and by the [patient’s] health conditions. This is how it is in a war.’
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