--- title: "The Rich Are Trying to Buy Their Own Ventilators, in Case Everything Collapses" description: "The rich are so worried that the medical system will collapse that they're trying to buy ventilators just in case they happen to need them." date: "2020-03-19" modified: "2020-03-19" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/rich-trying-buy-own-ventilators" categories: - "Health & Medicine" - "Prosthetics and Devices" tags: - "coronavirus" - "covid19" - "health" - "ventilators" --- # The Rich Are Trying to Buy Their Own Ventilators, in Case Everything Collapses ![]() *\Image: Ventec/Victor Tangermann\* Buried in an [alarming New York Times story]() about a looming shortage of lifesaving ventilators is this horrifying detail (emphasis ours): *For days, \[exec of ventilator maker Ventec Chris\] Kiple said, he has been getting nonstop phone calls from frantic hospital administrators, governor’s offices and other government officials looking for more machines. **He’s even received inquiries from a number of wealthy individuals hoping to buy their own personal ventilators, a fallback plan in case the American hospital system buckles.*** That's right — the rich are so worried that the medical system will collapse under the strain of the runaway outbreak that they're buying up ventilators, in case they happen to get so sick that they need them. Unspoken in the *Times* is a brutal implication. Most of those jetsetters won't even need the ventilators, since most COVID-19 cases are mild enough that they don't require hospitalization. And that means that each ventilator obtained as a backup plan for a terrified plutocrat won't end up in a health care facility — meaning a patient, or multiple patients, could die. In a lesser crisis, snapping up livesaving medical supplies would be just gauche. But experts are almost certain, according to the *Times*, that there's going to be a critical shortage of ventilators as the disease continues to spread. "The reality is there is absolutely not enough," Hamilton Medical CEO Andreas Wieland told the *Times*. "We see that in Italy, we saw that in China, we see it in France and other countries." The phenomenon of rich scoundrels snapping them up is even more troubling when you compare it to the selfless efforts of others to get *more* ventilators into the medical system. In Italy, for instance, local business are [helping 3D print parts]() to keep ventilators running. A [swathe of open source efforts]() have cropped up to try to build DIY ones. Even the enigmatic Elon Musk has [offered to use his resources at Tesla]() to build some. Hopefully the rich won't find a way to hoard those too. ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()