Ethical dilemmas in COVID-19 times: how to decide who lives and who dies?

The objective of this work is to reflect, from the point of view of medical ethics, on the basic principles of the choices made by the health teams, during the COVID-19 pandemic, whose resources are scarce and decisions cause anguish and restlessness. The ethical values for the rationing of health resources in an epidemic must converge to some proposals based on fundamental values such as maximizing the benefits produced by scarce resources, treating people equally, promoting and recommending instrumental values, giving priority to critical situations. Naturally, different judgments will occur in different circumstances, but transparency is essential to ensure public trust. In this way, it is possible to develop prioritization guidelines using well-defined values and ethical recommendations to achieve fair resource allocation.RESUMO A doen ça respiratória provocada pelo coronavírus 2019 (COVID-19) é uma pandemia que produz uma grande quantidade simultânea de doentes com sintomas graves que necessitam de cuidados hospitalares especiais, sobrecarregando a infraestrutura dos serviços de saúde. Todas essas demandas geram a necessid ade de racionar equipamentos e intervenções. Diante desse desequilíbrio, como, quando e quem decide, há o impacto dos sistemas estressores dos profissionais que se encontram na linha de frente do atendimento e, em segundo plano, questões inerentes à subjetividade humana. Nesse percurso, surge ainda a ideia do uso de algoritmos da inteligê...
Source: Revista da Associacao Medica Brasileira - Category: General Medicine Source Type: research