COVID-19, Age, and Rationing

Abstract

Abstract During the COVID-19 pandemic, some hospitals found themselves short of ventilators, intensive care unit (ICU) beds, and qualified medical personnel to take care of patients. Physicians had to make difficult, life-and-death choices. They were aided by various guidelines and recommendations, issued by governments and medical associations. This chapter reviews some of these guidelines, looking in particular at the role of age and life expectancy as criteria for the rationing of healthcare resources. It defends the view that the ethical aim of triage should be to maximize benefits and concludes that while neither age nor life expectancy should be used to categorically exclude patients, both may have a role in triage by virtue of their connection to capacity to benefit.