As the coronavirus ravages the U.S. health care system, the scarcity of ventilators has been forcing doctors to make life-or-death decisions about who gets to breathe and who does not. Our investigation helps explain the acute shortage of medical devices.
nyti.ms/2w0GihK
nyti.ms/2w0GihK
13 years ago, U.S. public health officials came up with a plan to address what they regarded as one of the medical system’s crucial vulnerabilities: a shortage of ventilators nyti.ms/2WYLSfo 
Things veered off course when a multibillion-dollar maker of medical devices, Covidien, bought the small California company, Newport Medical Instruments, that had been hired to design the new machines. The project ultimately produced zero ventilators. nyti.ms/2WYLSfo
The stalled efforts to create cheap, easy-to-use ventilators highlight the perils of outsourcing public-health projects to private companies; their focus on maximizing profits is not always consistent with the government’s goal of preparing for a crisis. nyti.ms/2WYLSfo
