Allocation of scarce resources during the COVID-19 pandemic: a Jewish ethical perspective.
J Med Ethics
; 46(7): 444-446, 2020 07.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-46239
ABSTRACT
The novel COVID-19 pandemic has placed medical triage decision-making in the spotlight. As life-saving ventilators become scarce, clinicians are being forced to allocate scarce resources in even the wealthiest countries. The pervasiveness of air travel and high rate of transmission has caused this pandemic to spread swiftly throughout the world. Ethical triage decisions are commonly based on the utilitarian approach of maximising total benefits and life expectancy. We present triage guidelines from Italy, USA and the UK as well as the Jewish ethical prospective on medical triage. The Jewish tradition also recognises the utilitarian approach but there is disagreement between the rabbis whether human discretion has any role in the allocation of scarce resources and triage decision-making.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Pneumonia, Viral
/
Health Care Rationing
/
Jews
/
Triage
/
Coronavirus Infections
/
Judaism
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
J Med Ethics
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Medethics-2020-106242
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