Pushkin.

It's hard to read the news these days without asking yourself, how did we get here?

Fiasco is a history podcast for the co-creators of Slow Burn.

In our first season, Bush v. Gore, we examined an unmistakable turning point in American

politics, the 2000 election, which resulted in a high-stakes stalemate, ended with one of the most

controversial rulings in Supreme Court history. So if you're trying to make sense at the present

moment, check out Fiasco, Bush v. Gore. Listen on theHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

From Pushkin Industries, this is deep background, the show where we explore the stories behind the stories in the news.

I'm Noah Feldman. We're continuing our ongoing coverage of different aspects of the coronavirus pandemic.

Today, our topic is medical ethics and how they apply in a crisis.

There have been reports of doctors in some countries around the world having to ration care,

including ventilators, for patients who are sick with the coronavirus because they don't have sufficient

supplies to care for everyone. It looks at least possible that the same thing could be happening

here in the United States. The situation is especially pressing in New York where there's

a shortage of ventilators and where the possibility of splitting ventilators

has been considered by some hospitals.

What happens when hospitals have to decide who gets a ventilator and who doesn't?

What happens at the end of life when we're trying to figure out what sort of heroic measures

should be used to save people who are close to dying from the coronavirus?

To discuss these issues, I'm joined today by Dr. Lydia Dugdale.

She's an associate professor of medicine and director of the Center for Clinical Medical

Ethics at Columbia University. She's practicing medicine on the front lines of this pandemic,

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