Bioethical aspects in triage guidelines for future pandemics: lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31637/epsir-2024-971Keywords:
pandemic, COVID-19, triage, justice, discrimination, ageism, utilitarianism, egalitarianismAbstract
Introduction: The history of humanity is a history of migrations, wars and pandemics. The COVID-19 pandemic was distributed globally due to the contemporary possibilities of traveling. The objectives of this work were based on showing that it is possible to propose bioethical criteria to be included in future triage guides. Methodology: The methodology used corresponds to a two-phase study. In the first of them, biomedical scientific literature is analyzed, performing a systematic search in the PubMed database of the National Library of Medicine of the United States of America and in EMBASE. The articles obtained were analyzed to extract bioethical criteria and those that are not. Secondly, an argumentative analysis is carried out. Results: With the systematic review, 6 systematic reviews were obtained, showing different values that can be classified from the theory of value into two groups (instrumental and intrinsic). Discussion: In general, criteria that coincide with respect for individual autonomy, as well as the fair distribution of resources at the social level, are more acceptable. On the contrary, criteria that are a mere state imposition, or that favor the distribution of resources only to some groups, range from less acceptable to unacceptable. Conclusions: A balance of egalitarian criteria with some utilitarian criteria is proposed.
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