This is an excellent article by Bledsoe et al., discussing what is, by my reading, the morally licit view of crisis rationing ethics. The focus MUST be on the individual’s likelihood of surviving the acute illness and NOT on life-years gained/lost etc.
My only criticism of the article is that they did not cite and respond to the recent high profile paper by Emanuel, et al. wherein it is argued that:
- “Saving more lives and more years of life is a consensus value across expert reports…”
- “Recommendation 2: Critical Covid-19 interventions — testing, PPE, ICU beds, ventilators, therapeutics, and vaccines — should go first to front-line health care workers and others who care for ill patients and who keep critical infrastructure operating, particularly workers who face a high risk of infection and whose training makes them difficult to replace…Whether health workers who need ventilators will be able to return to work is uncertain, but giving them priority for ventilators recognizes their assumption of the high-risk work of saving others, and it may also discourage absenteeism.”
- Recommendation 5: People who participate in research to prove the safety and effectiveness of vaccines and therapeutics should receive some priority for Covid-19 interventions.
Thank you to the Dr. Bledsoe, Ms. Sulmasy, and colleagues, and the American College of Physicians, for publishing this important article!
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