Legal, Ethical and Medical Aspects of Triage

Triage decision-making during a pandemic is linked to complex ethical, medical, and legal dilemmas, which in the past have been discussed mainly based on hypothetical scenarios. The crisis caused by Covid-19 has shown these dilemmas to be very real, and many countries faced significant health care challenges during the pandemic. The book presents different views on the problems of triage during the time of Covid-19 and to shed a light on how various countries approached triage during the pandemic.

The absence of staff and resources in many countries opened a discussion of whether they should strive for the most egalitarian way of deciding whom to help with limited resources or to act in a utilitarian manner and establish a triage system based on saving as many people as possible. There were so-called conflicts of duty in many parts of the world, and decision-makers who had to choose which patients would survive in the absence of resources were under tremendous pressure. This book presents different views on the issue of such decision-making from legal, ethical, and medical points of view. The authors explain the origin of the concept of triage and its use in modern medicine. They point out the distinction between triage and the allocation of resources while also analysing how pandemic triage differs from emergency and disaster triage.

Provides an analysis of triage guidelines of multiple countries in a comprehensive way Compares public opinion of different countries on triage Explores the causes and effects of the epidemic on triage practices

Auteur

Dr Renata Salecl, Institute of Criminology at the Faculty of Law, Ljubljana, Slovenia, and Birkbeck Law School, University of London.

Contenu

Part I: Legal, Ethical and Social Framework of Triage.- Triage and the Underlying Principles of Discrimination Law.- Patients' Rights and the Epidemic: On the Law, Justice, and the Self.- The Clash of Ethics in Tragic Medical Triage and the Potential for Moral Distress.- Part II: Ethical Decision-Making in Times of the Pandemic.- Triage Decisions during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Clinical Guidelines, Legal Principles, and Public Opinion.- Addressing the Problem of Choice in an Overloaded Health Care System: A Review of Medical Association and Ethics Commission Documents on Triage during the Covid-19 Epidemic.- Social Aspects of the Covid-19 Pandemic.- Part III: Triage During Covid 19 and the Problem of Discrimination.- Are Ethical Standards on Covid-19 Triage Shaped by one's Profession or Age Group? A Survey of the Slovenian Public.- Experiences of Triage and Social Distancing in Residential Nursing Homes During the Covid-19 Epidemic A Group Interview with Relatives.- People With Disabilities and Older People in Long-Term Residential Institutions in Emergencies: The Importance of Transdisciplinarity for Ethical Decision-Making.