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The Ethical Unjustifications of COVID-19 Triage Committees

The ever-debated question of triage and allocating the life-saving ventilator during the COVID-19 pandemic has been repeatedly raised and challenged within the ethical community after shortages propelled doctors before life and death decisions (Anderson-Shaw and Zar 2020; Huxtable 2020; Jongepier 20...

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Autor principal: Tian, Yi Jiao (Angelina)
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer Singapore 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8715149/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34964927
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11673-021-10132-0
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author Tian, Yi Jiao (Angelina)
author_facet Tian, Yi Jiao (Angelina)
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description The ever-debated question of triage and allocating the life-saving ventilator during the COVID-19 pandemic has been repeatedly raised and challenged within the ethical community after shortages propelled doctors before life and death decisions (Anderson-Shaw and Zar 2020; Huxtable 2020; Jongepier 2020; Peterson, Largent, and Karlawish 2020). The British Medical Association’s ethical guidance highlighted the possibility of an initial surge of patients that would outstrip the health system’s ability to deliver care “to existing standards,” where utilitarian measures have to be applied, and triage decisions need to maximize “overall benefit” (British Medical Association 2020, 3) In these emergency circumstances, triage that “grades according to their needs and the probable outcomes of intervention” will prioritize or eliminate patients for treatment, and health professionals may be faced with obligations to withhold or withdraw treatments to some patients in favour of others (British Medical Association 2020, 4). This piece is a response and extension to articles published on the manner of involvement for ethics and ethicists in pandemic triage decisions, particularly examining the ability and necessity of establishing triage committees to ameliorate scarce allocation decisions for physicians.
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spelling pubmed-87151492021-12-29 The Ethical Unjustifications of COVID-19 Triage Committees Tian, Yi Jiao (Angelina) J Bioeth Inq Original Research The ever-debated question of triage and allocating the life-saving ventilator during the COVID-19 pandemic has been repeatedly raised and challenged within the ethical community after shortages propelled doctors before life and death decisions (Anderson-Shaw and Zar 2020; Huxtable 2020; Jongepier 2020; Peterson, Largent, and Karlawish 2020). The British Medical Association’s ethical guidance highlighted the possibility of an initial surge of patients that would outstrip the health system’s ability to deliver care “to existing standards,” where utilitarian measures have to be applied, and triage decisions need to maximize “overall benefit” (British Medical Association 2020, 3) In these emergency circumstances, triage that “grades according to their needs and the probable outcomes of intervention” will prioritize or eliminate patients for treatment, and health professionals may be faced with obligations to withhold or withdraw treatments to some patients in favour of others (British Medical Association 2020, 4). This piece is a response and extension to articles published on the manner of involvement for ethics and ethicists in pandemic triage decisions, particularly examining the ability and necessity of establishing triage committees to ameliorate scarce allocation decisions for physicians. Springer Singapore 2021-12-29 2021 /pmc/articles/PMC8715149/ /pubmed/34964927 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11673-021-10132-0 Text en © Journal of Bioethical Inquiry Pty Ltd. 2021 This article is made available via the PMC Open Access Subset for unrestricted research re-use and secondary analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for the duration of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic.
spellingShingle Original Research
Tian, Yi Jiao (Angelina)
The Ethical Unjustifications of COVID-19 Triage Committees
title The Ethical Unjustifications of COVID-19 Triage Committees
title_full The Ethical Unjustifications of COVID-19 Triage Committees
title_fullStr The Ethical Unjustifications of COVID-19 Triage Committees
title_full_unstemmed The Ethical Unjustifications of COVID-19 Triage Committees
title_short The Ethical Unjustifications of COVID-19 Triage Committees
title_sort ethical unjustifications of covid-19 triage committees
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8715149/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34964927
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11673-021-10132-0
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