In the months since Hurricane Maria, my hospital has dealt with an IV bag shortage. It turns out that might not be such a bad thing. Among the collateral damage of Hurricane Maria’s havoc on Puerto Rico is the shutdown of several factories that produce upward of 40 percent of the intravenous fluids that many Americans suffering from a wide spectrum of illness depend on daily. (Actually, the hurricane itself didn’t grind things to a halt so much as the ongoing power outage that continues to render large swaths of the island largely unlivable.) As a result, an already massive IV fluid shortage underway in the U.S. prior to the hurricane has become much worse.

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