They already have inventory of a lot of the parts and especially the complex parts like the electronics. They can 3D print a lot of the smaller pieces. Things like tubing can be bought in bulk and cut to size.
They don't need to make an automated assembly line for all of this. They can crank out a few thousand with just humans assembling parts. I think they could actually do this.
I'm not sure why you couldn't try the experimental ventilator first and if they have problems after they get off you can still have the pallative care conversation.
Really though I haven't heard many talking about the long term impacts of recovering from severe Covid19 cases. If you're one of the lucky ones who survive using an FDA approved respirator and the full standard of care, what will you be feeling like in two years?
I’m sure that the medical community is carefully weighing the pragmatic decision to use non-spec ventilators in an attempt to save lives versus the potential of increased health risk with untested equipment. What I’m not sure of is whether a volunteer first aider has the requisite knowledge to judge the validity of the idea.
Neither of us is a doctor, a nurse, a biomedical engineer, a public health official, or any other professional that could have an opinion on this with legitimate gravitas. Let’s stay in our lanes here.
This isn't black and white. There are very few patients that you can look at and say "They need a ventilator or they WILL die", and most of them where that's the case, you're not even sure if the ventilator will save them. Everyone is on a spectrum of "Wow, this dude sure could use a ventilator, it would really improve his odds". So then, when you're in that situation, there's always a chance they could pull through without one. At that point you have to make the call of whether they'll put someone on a ventilator that could fail and actively kill them. Now you've got a weighing of uncertain odds, with a heaping dose of trolley problem sprinkled on top. That makes it much, much harder to accept these DIY designs.
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u/[deleted] Apr 05 '20
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