“… A legal framework is necessary in order to outline when, if ever, utilitarian triage decisions may be made and how. Currently, few states have laws addressing disaster triage, leaving healthcare workers and patients in limbo about what will happen should resources be overwhelmed and what remedies are available if healthcare workers deny or suspend a patient’s critical care during an emergency. I argue that, in cases where utilitarian triage is necessary, medical professionals and hospitals must have legal immunity insofar as they triage their patients according to protocols formally adopted by state legislators and that such protocols should omit all factors other than the patients’ present medical statuses. Part I of this Note explains standard triage and utilitarian triage – their origins and justifications. Part II then examines how utilitarian triage has been and could be implemented during disasters. Part III recommends that states adopt laws regulating the triage process, including immunity for medical professionals from lawsuits regarding their triage decisions …”
Alyssa Nielsen, Utilitarian Triage in Disasters, 46 Brigham Young University Law Review 217 (2021).
First posted 2021-03-06 15:00:41
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