A Texas hospital struggling to cope with an ongoing influx of coronavirus patients has been ordered to accept new treatment guidelines that some allege effectively establish "death panels," The Guardian reports.
Starr county, on the Mexican border, has seen an increase in the number of Covid-19 cases since early July, and hospital officials blame public gatherings for the rise. Now the result is appalling many - rules deciding who will be admitted to hospital for treatment and who will be sent home as they are considered likely to die and are second-tier candidates for limited resources.
In fact, Texas is not the first state to establish such guidelines; that accolade goes to Arizona, dating back to July 3, though it appears that hospital staff are not currently being forced to make such decisions.