Rationing Limited Healthcare Resources in the COVID-19 Era and Beyond: Ethical Considerations Regarding Older Adults.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continues to impact older adults disproportionately with respect to serious consequences ranging from severe illness and hospitalization to increased mortality risk. Concurrently, concerns about potential shortages of healthcare professionals and health supplies to address these issues have focused attention on how these resources are ultimately allocated and used. Some strategies, for example, misguidedly use age as an arbitrary criterion that disfavors older adults in resource allocation decisions. This is a companion article to the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) position statement, "Resource Allocation Strategies and Age-Related Considerations in the COVID-19 Era and Beyond." It is intended to inform stakeholders including hospitals, health systems, and policymakers about ethical considerations that should be considered when developing strategies for allocation of scarce resources during an emergency involving older adults. This review presents the legal and ethical background for the position statement and discusses these issues that informed the development of the AGS positions: (1) age as a determining factor, (2) age as a tiebreaker, (3) criteria with a differential impact on older adults, (4) individual choices and advance directives, (5) racial/ethnic disparities and resource allocation, and (6) scoring systems and their impact on older adults. It also considers the role of advance directives as expressions of individual preferences in pandemics. J Am Geriatr Soc 68:1143-1149, 2020.

[Ethics, care and ageing during the Covid-19 pandemic]. / Éthique, soin et grand âge pendant l'épidémie de Covid-19.

At the beginning of the Covid-19 epidemic, National forum for ethical reflection on Alzheimer's disease and neurodegenerative diseases conducted a national survey to identify the difficulties encountered by professionals working in the field of old age and autonomy, families and volunteers, and the initiatives they have implemented. Seven major difficulties were identified: the isolation induced by the prohibition of visits, the lack of protective equipment and tests, the difficulties of people with cognitive difficulties in understanding measures to avoid the spread of the epidemic, the sustainability of overwork for professionals, the concern of the families of residents, complex situations at home and difficulties in accessing care. Four initiatives are being implemented: information and training for teams, compensation for interrupted visits, consultations and exchanges between professionals, actions to benefit people living at home. The Covid-19 epidemic hit the elderly sector at a very special moment in its history, several years of effort by the sector to reinvent itself around strong values. They have been a resource during this period of crisis. An ambitious law on old age and autonomy therefore appears to be a necessity.

Caring for Frail Older Adults During COVID-19: Integrating Public Health Ethics into Clinical Practice.

During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, principles from both clinical and public health ethics cue clinicians and healthcare administrators to plan alternatives for frail older adults who prefer to avoid critical care, and for when critical care is not available due to crisis triaging. This article will explore the COVID-19 Ethical Decision Making Framework, published in British Columbia (BC), Canada, to familiarize clinicians and policy makers with how ethical principles can guide systems change, in the service of frail older adults. In BC, the healthcare system has launched resources to support clinicians in proactive advance care planning discussions, and is providing enhanced supportive and palliative care options to residents of long-term care facilities. If the pandemic truly overwhelms the healthcare system, frailty, but not age alone, provides a fair and evidence-based means of triaging patients for critical care and could be included into ventilator allocation frameworks. J Am Geriatr Soc 68:1666-1670, 2020.