The Daily 202's Big Idea is sponsored by DXC technology.

Let us show you the way to your digital future.

Thrive on Change.

Good morning.

I'm James Holman from the Washington Post and this is the Daily

202 for Thursday March 26th. In today's news, the Senate

unanimously passes its two trillion dollar stimulus bill. Soldiers around the world

mobilize to enforce lockdowns and more states order residents to stay home. But first, the big idea. Hospitals from coast to

coast are seriously considering universal do not resuscitate orders for coronavirus patients.

Doctors on the front lines of the pandemic are engaged in heated private debates over a

calculation none of them have encountered in their lifetimes.

How to weigh the Save at All costs approach to resuscitating a dying person

against the very real danger of exposing doctors and nurses to the contagion.

The conversations are driven by the realization that the risk to staff amid dwindling stores of protective equipment such as masks, gowns and gloves may be too great to justify the conventional response when a patient codes.

That's the medical term for when their heart or breathing stops.

Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago has been discussing a do not resuscitate policy for

infected patients regardless of the wishes of the patient or their family

members. That's a wrenching decision to prioritize the lives of the many over the one.

The new protocols are part of a larger rationing of life-saving procedures and equipment, including

ventilators, that's quickly becoming a reality here in America

as we've already seen in other parts of the world battling the virus.

Officials at George Washington University Hospital here in the district, say they've had similar conversations,

...