A patient has failure of the left side of his heart. Consequently, the blood is backing up into the pulmonary artery and spilling out into the lung tissue, causing him to be short of breath and moderately hypoxic. The EMT should recognize this condition as a product of:

A) increased hydrostatic pressure.
B) decreased circulating blood volume.
C) increased osmotic pressure.
D) decreased pulmonary perfusion.

A