When Machines Help Us Breathe

In 1952, a terrible disease spread through Copenhagen, Denmark.

Many patients could not breathe on their own, and hospitals did not have enough iron lungs.

A young doctor named Bjorn Ibsen had a different idea: he asked medical students to press air into patients' lungs by hand, hour after hour.

This simple act saved many lives, and it also started the first intensive care unit.

Since then, breathing machines have become much better.

Today, a ventilator can keep a very sick person alive for weeks while doctors treat the real problem.

However, these machines also raise hard questions.

Who decides when to stop the machine?

What if the family disagrees with the doctors?

In some countries, laws allow patients to say no to life support in advance.

In others, doctors often make the final call.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, these choices became even harder because so many people needed help at the same time.

Medical progress gives us power, but it does not tell us how to use that power wisely.