Who should doctors let die in a pandemic?
Anyone but me...
Which color gets stuck on your paperwork?
Doctors know some patients needing lifesaving care won’t get it in a flu pandemic or other disaster. The gut-wrenching dilemma will be deciding who to let die.
Now, an influential group of physicians has drafted a grimly specific list of recommendations for which patients wouldn’t be treated. They include the very elderly, seriously hurt trauma victims, severely burned patients and those with severe dementia…
Public health law expert Lawrence Gostin of Georgetown University called the report an important initiative but also “a political minefield and a legal minefield.”
The recommendations would probably violate federal laws against age discrimination and disability discrimination, said Gostin, who was not on the task force.
I wonder what the standards will look like when chiseled into bureaucratic stone? After all, FEMA might be in charge.
Posted: Mon - May 5, 2008 at 03:03 PM