In Alberta, ‘people will suffer and will die’

The head of emergency medicine for the Alberta Medical Association, Dr. Paul Parks, says major components of triage have already begun in Alberta — an assertion disputed by the province.

The dispute comes as the Canadian Armed Forces prepares to bring in air transport and staff to deal with a COVID-19 crisis overwhelming Alberta’s hospitals.

Parks said that in recent days some critically ill COVID-19 patients who should have been on ventilators were not getting them. Parks said it has become routine in hospitals in the past two weeks to have some critically ill patients — most of them unvaccinated COVID-19 cases — kept on main wards rather than in intensive care on ventilators because they don’t have the resources.

“We already are in positions in many hospitals across Alberta where the doctors know that it would be best for this patient to be in ICU and be on a ventilator, but we’re not providing that option until they absolutely deteriorate to the point of crashing,” Parks said Friday.

“People will suffer and will die by this.”

Alberta Health Services responded in a statement, saying: “We acknowledge that we are operating at a reduced standard of care, however safety remains at the forefront of all decisions.

“Any patient who requires mechanical ventilation is currently able to receive it.”

AHS said triage will only be invoked if all efforts to increase intensive care capacity are exhausted.