Coronavirus victims in Italy could be left to die if they are aged 80 or more, or in poor health, under draft plans drawn up for the next phase of the crisis.
The victims will be denied access to intensive care should pressure on beds increase, according to a new regional protocol, seen by The Sunday Telegraph, from the government’s crisis management unit in Turin.
The document lays out in cold detail which patients receive treatment in intensive care and which do not if there are insufficient spaces – triggering concerns for the elderly in the UK if Britain’s infection rate follows suit.
Italy now has more than 17,000 positive cases and more than 1,200 dead, second only to China. But the rate of death is far higher due to Italy’s large elderly population.
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