Ethical Issues and the Allocation of Scarce Resources During a Public Health Emergency

摘要

White and colleagues (1) propose a strategy based on contemporary moral considerations for allocating a limited number of mechanical ventilators in the event of an influenza pandemic or other comparable public health emergency. Their approach prioritizes patients for life support by summing their scores on three 4-point scales: prognosis for short-term survival on the basis of acute organ dysfunction, prognosis for long-term survival on the basis of assessment of comorbid conditions, and life stage (age). It is instructive to test this strategy against an actual, well-documented public health emergency that unfolded at the dawn of modern respiratory intensive care.