DETROIT _ Henry Ford Health System has officially confirmed the accuracy of a detailed letter being circulated by doctors and others on social media outlining life and death guidelines for use during the pandemic.
The @HenryFordNews Twitter account responded at 11:22 p.m. Thursday to Nicholas Bagley, a University of Michigan law professor, who shared content that appeared to be on hospital letterhead outlining how doctors would make decisions at the Michigan hospital network about who gets treated during the COVID-19 crisis with limited resources.
People had immediately replied with shock and sadness and challenged the authenticity of the letter.
Henry Ford Health System responded directly to Bagley as the response to his tweet grew more heated.
"With a pandemic, we must be prepared for worst case," the tweet said. "With collective wisdom from our industry, we crafted a policy to provide guidance for making difficult patient care decisions. We hope never to have to apply them. We will always utilize every resource to care for our patients."
In recent days, the CEO of Beaumont Health described the current crisis as "our worst nightmare" and the novel coronavirus health crisis as a "biological tsunami." He warned the public of limited supplies and the need to stay at home to limit the spread. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued an executive order on March 23 requiring residents to stay in place until April 13.
On Thursday, President Trump discussed providing medical aid with military assistance in New York.
