UK doctors ‘less likely’ to resuscitate the most seriously ill patients since Covid

The survey suggested doctors would be less willing to resuscitate very sick or frail patients and may raise the threshold for referral to intensive care. Photograph: Peter Dazeley/Getty Images

Doctors are less likely to resuscitate the most seriously ill patients in the wake of the pandemic, a survey suggests.

Covid-19 may have changed doctors’ decision-making regarding end of life, making them more willing not to resuscitate very sick or frail patients and raising the threshold for referral to intensive care, according to the results of the research published in the Journal of Medical Ethics.