When someone is put on a ventilator, it can be a struggle to come off one, local doctors said.
Dr. Jill Cherry-Bukowiec, trauma surgery and surgical critical care physician at the University of Toledo Medical Center, said the longer a patient is on a ventilator, the weaker their diaphragm muscles can become.
“Patients that are really sick come into the hospital and sometimes need to be intubated,” Dr. Cherry-Bukowiec said. “When that happens, especially to older patients or patients that need the ventilator for a long time, their muscles start to atrophy or stop working as well.”…