In early March 2020, Ms. B., a woman in her mid-70s, was admitted from her nursing home to Seattle Harborview’s medical ICU with suspected Covid-19. When she rapidly decompensated, the ICU team resuscitated her as they would any patient: central line, fluids, pressors. But when it became clear that her death was imminent, providing supportive end-of-life care proved more difficult. Because Ms. B. had been quarantined in the nursing home for several days, her family was already quite distressed about not being able to see her. And the hospital’s strict visitor policy meant that even if they could get there quickly enough, their time at her bedside, if they were allowed any at all, would be severely limited.
New England Journal of Medicine
