Abstract
Based on the philosophical literature, research on disaster medicine and the experience of veterans of humanitarian relief teams, this paper explicates an outline for triage in mass-casualty disasters. This outline aims at reconciling—at least to a degree—utilitarian considerations with the moral psychology and professional identity of medical care-givers, while being attuned to the diversity of disaster arenas.
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Notes
- 1.
We do not explore here the philosophical question of whether utilitarianism endorses the deliberate sacrifice of the few for the sake of saving the many (e.g. the question of "survival lottery"). Since no healthcare system in the world practices sacrificial care, we take this de-facto taboo as a given.
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Barilan, Y., Brusa, M., Halperin, P. (2014). Triage in Disaster Medicine: Ethical Strategies in Various Scenarios. In: O’Mathúna, D., Gordijn, B., Clarke, M. (eds) Disaster Bioethics: Normative Issues When Nothing is Normal. Public Health Ethics Analysis, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-3864-5_4
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