Saving the most lives—A comparison of European triage guidelines in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

In March 2020, the rapid increase in severe COVID-19 cases overwhelmed the healthcare systems in several European countries. The capacities for artificial ventilation in intensive care units were too scarce to care for patients with acute respiratory disorder connected to the disease. Several profes...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Ehni, Hans-Jörg 1969- (Author) ; Ranisch, Robert 1985- (Author) ; Wiesing, Urban 1958- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Wiley-Blackwell [2021]
In: Bioethics
Year: 2021, Volume: 35, Issue: 2, Pages: 125-134
IxTheo Classification:KBA Western Europe
NCH Medical ethics
Further subjects:B European regulation
B Covid-19
B intensive care
B Resource Allocation
B Triage
Online Access: Presumably Free Access
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Summary:In March 2020, the rapid increase in severe COVID-19 cases overwhelmed the healthcare systems in several European countries. The capacities for artificial ventilation in intensive care units were too scarce to care for patients with acute respiratory disorder connected to the disease. Several professional associations published COVID-19 triage recommendations in an extremely short time: in 21 days between March 6 and March 27. In this article, we compare recommendations from five European countries, which combine medical and ethical reflections on this situation in some detail. Our aim is to provide a detailed overview on the ethical elements of the recommendations, the differences between them and their coherence. In more general terms we want to identify shortcomings in regard to a common European response to the current situation.
ISSN:1467-8519
Contains:Enthalten in: Bioethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/bioe.12836