Allocating Medical Resources During Times of Scarcity
Year: 2021
Type: preprint
Abstract: Scarcity of medical resources and services during public health emergencies raises challenging legal and ethical questions. The COVID-19 pandemic has strained the capacity of health systems, and revealed some of the shortcomings of previous efforts to plan for and implement ethical and effective allocation protocols for scarce medical resources and services. Governments and health institutions have ample authority and expertise, but often lack the political and economic support needed to avoid shortages and mitigate their severity. Legal issues that may arise in this context include liability for health care professionals and institutions that must make allocation decisions when resources are scarce and civil rights concerns over discrimination in crisis standards of care protocols or their implementation. In the short term, federal and state officials must expand available resources to mitigate resource scarcity in the COVID-19 response. They must provide legal and practical guidance to health care and public health entities that may need to implement crisis standards of care, and ensure that scarce resources — including newly-developed treatments and vaccines — are allocated consistent with legal and ethical responsibilities that protect the most vulnerable persons through fair and equitable prioritization. In the longer term, federal and state officials should support efforts to clarify and incorporate protections into crisis standards of care plans that prioritize antidiscrimination, fairness, and equity in allocation decision making. This paper was prepared as part of the COVID-19 Policy Playbook: Legal Recommendations for a Safer, More Equitable Future, a comprehensive report published by Public Health Law Watch in partnership with the de Beaumont Foundation and the American Public Health Association.
Source: SSRN Electronic Journal
Author: Lance Gable
Institution: Wayne State University
Language: English
Subfield: Emergency Medical Services
Field: Health Professions
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3167115443