Pandemic triage criteria: the age factor

Abstract

Triage, or patients’ prioritizing, started as a successful strategy to save as many wounded as possible. Throughout its short history, the triage system has evolved, responding positively to the clinical needs of patients in different situations. It has always taken on an unequivocal ethical dimension, being based on the recognition of the equal value of all lives and structured with the purpose of saving lives. The ethical scrutiny therefore focuses on the triage criteria: “first-come, first-served” and “high severity, high-priority”, “rationing” and “rationalization” of resources. The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic unleashed unparalleled pressure on human and technical health resources, which led to a rationing triage, based on chronological age as a factor of exclusion, which violates human dignity and social justice. At the same time, it presents itself as an equivocal reality, with a weak argument, shaped by a language policy, and revealing a logic of action abusive of human rights, being, therefore, ethically unacceptable.