Bioethics case study on ECMO and Healthcare Technology in VIDEO and PRINT. Technology Means Hard Choices: To Start or Not to Start ECMO. His wife became critically ill and had to be transferred to the ICU after delivering her baby via emergency C-section. She continued to decline in the ICU to the point that her only chance of survival was to be transferred to another hospital to start ECMO. Published by the Center for Practical Bioethics.