What if Two COVID-19 Victims Need Ventilators and Just One Is Available?

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March 16, 2020

Dear Reader, As the number of COVID-19 infections continue to rise and resources become limited, health care providers will likely have to make tough ethical decisions. For example, if the number of patients who need a ventilator exceeds the number of actual ventilators available in the hospital, which patients should be prioritized? And who will decide? Our main story offers guidance for when such questions arise. Next up, scientists and health experts are increasingly experiencing online harassment. In his column, clinical psychologist Jonathan N. Stea explains the motivations behind these attacks—an erosion of confidence and truth in scientific authority. Lastly, gender biases profoundly influence diagnoses and treatments and therefore health outcomes. Doctors often fail to diagnose stereotypical "male" conditions in women, and vice versa. These problems arise from a serious gap in our understanding of sex differences.

Sunya Bhutta, Senior Editor, Audience Engagement @sunyaaa

Policy & Ethics What if Two COVID-19 Victims Need Ventilators and Just One Is Available? Health care providers need a well-organized response grounded in science and ethics as the U.S. responds to the pandemic By Rupali Gandhi,Angira Patel

Policy & Ethics When Promoting Knowledge Makes You a Target Online harassment of scientists and health professionals is a serious and growing problem By Jonathan N. Stea

Could Our Energy Come from Giant Seaweed Farms in the Ocean? A U.S. agency is funding projects to help create a bioenergy industry based on macroalgae By Annie Sneed

Doctors Must Dig into Gender Difference to Improve Women's Health Care Researchers and doctors must dig deeper into gender differences before they can provide women with better treatments By Marcia L. Stefanick

U.N. Unveils New Rules for Aviation Carbon Offsets The new climate rules come as the airline industry is reeling from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic By Maxine Joselow,E&E News

Poem: Eclipse Science in meter and verse By Christopher Cokinos

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FROM THE ARCHIVE If You Don't Sleep, You Will Go Insane Originally published in March 1880 | March 2020

QUOTE OF THE DAY "There exists a well-known disconnect for many reasons between public opinion and the scientific consensus on scientific topics...As a result, we have witnessed a breakdown of trust between the general public and conventional sources of health information." Jonathan N. Stea, Clinical Psychologist

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