A consequentialist argument for considering age in triage decisions during the coronavirus pandemic.
Most ethics guidelines for distributing scarce medical resources during the coronavirus pandemic seek to save the most lives and the most life‐years. A patient's prognosis is determined using a SOFA or MSOFA score to measure likelihood of survival to discharge, as well as a consideration of relevant...
| Publicado en: | Bioethics Vol. 35; no. 4; pp. 356 - 366 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Wiley-Blackwell
May2021
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=149926622&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 149926622 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 02699702 6PJ jtl: Bioethics issn: 02699702 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: May2021 vid: 35 iid: 4 pid: 480 pub: Wiley-Blackwell artinfo: ui: 149926622 10.1111/bioe.12864 ppf: 356 ppct: 10 formats: tig: atl: A consequentialist argument for considering age in triage decisions during the coronavirus pandemic. aug: au: Altman, Matthew C. affil: Department of Philosophy & Religious Studies, Central Washington University, Ellensburg Washington, su: Age distribution Medical care Bioethics Health care rationing COVID-19 pandemic Medical triage Medical protocols Comorbidity Algorithms sug: subj: Age distribution Medical care Bioethics Health care rationing COVID-19 pandemic Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology) Medical triage Medical protocols Comorbidity Algorithms keyword: allocation of scarce medical resources consequentialism coronavirus COVID‐19 life‐cycle principle triage utilitarianism allocation of scarce medical resources consequentialism coronavirus COVID‐19 life‐cycle principle triage utilitarianism ab: Most ethics guidelines for distributing scarce medical resources during the coronavirus pandemic seek to save the most lives and the most life‐years. A patient's prognosis is determined using a SOFA or MSOFA score to measure likelihood of survival to discharge, as well as a consideration of relevant comorbidities and their effects on likelihood of survival up to one or five years. Although some guidelines use age as a tiebreaker when two patients' prognoses are identical, others refuse to consider age for fear of discriminating against the elderly. In this paper, I argue that age is directly relevant for maximizing health benefits, so current ethics guidelines are wrongly excluding or deemphasizing life‐stage in their triage algorithms. Research on COVID‐19 has shown that age is a risk factor in adverse outcomes, independent of comorbidities. And limiting a consideration of life‐years to only one or five years past discharge does not maximize health benefits. Therefore, based on their own stated values, triage algorithms for coronavirus patients ought to include life‐stage as a primary consideration, along with the SOFA score and comorbidities, rather than excluding it or using it merely as a tiebreaker. This is not discriminatory because patients ought to have equal opportunity to experience life‐stages. The equitable enforcement of that right justifies unequal treatment based on age in cases when there is a scarcity of life‐saving resources. A consideration of life‐stage would thus allow healthcare workers to responsibly steward public resources in order to maximize lives and life‐years saved. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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