More than 38 million people worldwide have been infected with the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus 2, creating intense pressure on clinicians to offer state-of-the-art, life-saving treatment to patients.

The conundrum is that few effective treatments are available, and among those treatments tested in clinical trials, even fewer have demonstrated benefit compared with no treatment.

Treating patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is challenging, and clinicians encounter harrowing emergencies in the intensive care unit where, early during the pandemic, 1 in 4 critically ill patients with severe COVID-19 died.

The natural response at the bedside of a patient with COVID-19 is to act and to act decisively. Imbued with determination, clinicians seek to make a difference for patients who are seriously ill.

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