RT Article
T1 Rethinking the Ethics of Pandemic Rationing: Egalitarianism and Avoiding Wrongs
JF Cambridge quarterly of healthcare ethics
VO 31
IS 2
SP 247
OP 255
A1 Tate, Alex James Miller
LA English
PB Cambridge Univ. Press
YR 2022
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1827984570
AB This paper argues that we ought to rethink the harm-reduction prioritization strategy that has shaped early responses to acute resource scarcity (particularly of intensive care unit beds) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although some authors have claimed that “[t]here are no egalitarians in a pandemic,” it is noted here that many observers and commentators have been deeply concerned about how prioritization policies that proceed on the basis of survival probability may unjustly distribute the burden of mortality and morbidity, even while reducing overall deaths. The paper further argues that there is a general case in favor of an egalitarian approach to medical rationing that has been missed in the ethical commentary so far; egalitarian approaches to resource rationing minimize wrongful harm. This claim is defended against some objections and the paper concludes by explaining why we should consider the possibility that avoiding wrongful harm is more important than avoiding harm simpliciter.
K1 survival probability
K1 ICU
K1 wrongful harm
K1 Pandemic
K1 Covid-19
K1 Egalitarianism
K1 medical rationing
DO 10.1017/S0963180121000633