One of the most heavily-debated legal and ethical issues to arise during the current COVID-19 outbreak is what methodology a hospital should use to allocate ventilators when the number of patients who need a ventilator exceeds the hospital’s supply of ventilators.  Even more heavily discussed is whether a hospital should disconnect a patient from a ventilator against the wishes of the patient and his/her family in order to use that ventilator for another patient with a statistically greater chance of survival.