Allocating Medical Resources in the Time of Covid-19. Reply
Publication Date
5-28-2020
Document Type
Letter
Organizational Units
Sturm College of Law
Keywords
Critical care allocation, Rationing health resources, Public health
Abstract
We absolutely agree with Brown and Goodwin that discrimination on the basis of race, wealth, disability, and other factors such as those they mention is wrong and should be prohibited in rationing decisions. We also agree that disabilities and illnesses that affect prognosis are different from those that do not affect prognosis. Any measure of prognosis must be based on empirical evidence rather than subjective intuition and quality-of-life judgments. We recommend the use of guidelines and triage committees to preclude the arbitrariness and bias endemic to improvised, bedside rationing.
Recommended Citation
Govind Persad, James Phillips, and Ezekiel J. Emanuel, Allocating Medical Resources in the Time of Covid-19. Reply. 382 New Engl. J. Med E79 (2020).