> Supply chains stretched so taut that a single disruption shut the whole world down.

Saying "single disruption" here is almost as bad as saying the dinosaurs were wiped out by a single rock. It's not a matter of the number of underlying causes but a matter of the scale of the disruption.

My recollection is that there was an intentional limit on what parts were compatible with what ventilators, essentially DRM or filter tying/bundling. This denied healthcare facilities the flexibility to pair consumable components from third-party manufacturers with a specific ventilator.

(I've been looking for articles to support this without joy so far, though there were numerous articles on "open source" ventilator concepts, such as this one: <https://journal.valeriansaliou.name/makair-series-the-incept...>.)

This goes above and beyond basic market function, though yes, I suppose you could say that it was rooted at some level in capitalist short-term-profit-maximising practices.

Far as I'm concerned, medical devices should be "nationalized" to the degree that all designs are 100% open from the most easily-sourceable parts available and must be 100% interoperable. DRM should be outlawed rather than enshrined.

Changing from Capitalism, does not mean the new solution will be automatically better. could be much worse

At the moment, we are definitely changing - it will either be the introduction of socialism at a reasonable level, or completely unreasonable fascism.