Retired nurse, 65, offers to give up ventilator to save younger coronavirus patient

Darlene Freyer has refused to allow doctors to ventilate her and wants the life-saving equipment to be given to someone younger

A 65 year-old retired nurse says she wants to give her ventilator to a younger coronavirus sufferer should she fall seriously ill with Covid-19. Darlene Freyer, from Pittsburgh, insists that the life-saving equipment should be given to someone ‘who still has a life to live,’ and says her children have accepted her decision.

She explained: ‘I’ve lived my life. I’m 65 years old. I’ve raised a whole family. I spoke to them about this decision. They respect this decision.’ Freyer is currently healthy, but has updated her ‘living will’ with instructions not to put her on a ventilator should she fall seriously-ill with Covid-19.

And she says she’s also happy for an older patient to receive the life-saving breathing equipment instead, saying: ‘I don’t want to take some college student’s ventilator, I don’t want to take some young mother with four children’s ventilator, I don’t want to take a 70-year-old person’s ventilator who maybe has a disabled child that they’re still caring for. Age doesn’t always have to be a factor with this.’

The former nurse, who retired six years ago, told WTAE: ‘Common sense tells me our medical professionals are going to have to make some very hard decisions choosing who gets the ventilators and who does not. Why not help our warriors that are on the front line do their job just a little bit easier?’

Pennsylvania had almost 4,100 coronavirus diagnoses as of Tuesday morning, with 48 people killed by Covid-19 across the state so far.

Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh, has seen 290 coronavirus diagnoses and two deaths.

Covid-19 can cause severe pneumonia which can kill patients if they are not given breathing assistance with a ventilator, with most countries across the planet frantically manufacturing the life-saving equipment to ensure there are enough to go around.