When Is Age Choosing Ageist Discrimination?
Hastings Cent Rep
; 51(1): 13-15, 2021 Jan.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-976972
ABSTRACT
When the Covid-19 pandemic reached the United States in spring 2020, many states and hospitals announced crisis standards of care plans that used age as a categorical exclusion criterion. Such age choosing was quickly flagged as discriminatory, and so some states and hospitals shifted to embedding age as a tiebreaker deeper in their plans. Different rationales were given for using age as a tiebreaker that younger patients were more likely to survive than older patients, that saving younger patients would save more life years, and that younger patients deserved a chance to live through life's stages. We provide a critical analysis of these three rationales, noting the differences between them, and then questioning the ethical and legal justifications for such age choosing.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Triage
/
Ageism
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Prognostic study
Limits:
Aged
/
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Hastings Cent Rep
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
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