New Mexico hospitals 'very quickly' headed toward rationing COVID-19 care

A study by Oxford University found that New Mexico's approach to the coronavirus pandemic was among the most restrictive and successful in the United States over the course of the year, but now the state is close to entering a "physician's nightmare," The Washington Post reported Saturday.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) told the Post that as COVID-19 hospitalizations continue to rise in New Mexico, she will soon allow hospitals to move to "crisis standards," which means, if necessary, doctors can ration care depending on a patient's chances of survival.

Jason Mitchell, the chief medical officer at Presbyterian Healthcare Services, said doctors "want to save every life we can" and having to choose who gets treatment is a "physician's nightmare." But with New Mexico's health care system under strain and the number of intensive care unit beds continually falling, it may be the only option. "We're headed there very quickly," Mitchell told the Post. "There's no more room at the inn." Read more at The Washington Post.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.