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Source: http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=126388
Ethics have a role in triage
Ed Thomas - OneNewsNow - 5/30/2008 10:30:00 AM
A doctor who chairs the Christian Medical & Dental Association (CMDA) ethics committee says governmental task force members had a lot of good things to say when they crafted a list of recommendations for which patients get priority treatment during a pandemic. Dr. Robert Scheidt would only add the suggestion that such guidelines not be mandatory or legally binding on the doctors who make the choices.
A spokesperson for the task force, which was composed of members of the medical profession, Department of Homeland Security, Centers for Disease Control and elsewhere, says the objective of their final report -- published this month in the medical journal Chest -- was to try to make sure that both human and inanimate mechanical resources are used in a "uniform, objective way," reports the Associated Press.
Dr. Robert Scheidt of the Christian Medical & Dental Associations (CMDA) read the final report. He says triage -- or the practice of emergency treatment and determining who will receive it -- is proper to be considered regarding epidemics in the current age of medical threats. Planning ahead of time for those decisions, says Scheidt, is better than getting caught under pressure in a catastrophe.
"I think that their suggestions for who is going to be left out are alright," the retired surgeon offers, "but I don't think any doctor should be required to automatically follow them, [or] be held culpable if he doesn't follow them."
The report suggests people at high risk of death and low chance of long-term survival will be low priority. But so will people older than 85, burn patients older than 60, the severely mentally impaired, and those with chronic diseases or severe trauma with critical injuries.
However, Scheidt says those things need to be looked at on a case-by-case basis for the leeway to save those who are medically strong even with those conditions.
"You need to be governed by ethics, by moral values, by prior planning, by training, (and) by all kinds of things that guard you from doing unfair things," says the doctor, "because expedience usually degenerates into what I personally want, rather than what is good for my patient or for society as a whole."
Still, Scheidt says doctors have always had to plan ahead for their medical emergencies and treatment -- and providing recommendations like those published by the task force is one of the best ways.
Ethics have a role in triage
Ed Thomas - OneNewsNow - 5/30/2008 10:30:00 AM
A doctor who chairs the Christian Medical & Dental Association (CMDA) ethics committee says governmental task force members had a lot of good things to say when they crafted a list of recommendations for which patients get priority treatment during a pandemic. Dr. Robert Scheidt would only add the suggestion that such guidelines not be mandatory or legally binding on the doctors who make the choices.
A spokesperson for the task force, which was composed of members of the medical profession, Department of Homeland Security, Centers for Disease Control and elsewhere, says the objective of their final report -- published this month in the medical journal Chest -- was to try to make sure that both human and inanimate mechanical resources are used in a "uniform, objective way," reports the Associated Press.
Dr. Robert Scheidt of the Christian Medical & Dental Associations (CMDA) read the final report. He says triage -- or the practice of emergency treatment and determining who will receive it -- is proper to be considered regarding epidemics in the current age of medical threats. Planning ahead of time for those decisions, says Scheidt, is better than getting caught under pressure in a catastrophe.
"I think that their suggestions for who is going to be left out are alright," the retired surgeon offers, "but I don't think any doctor should be required to automatically follow them, [or] be held culpable if he doesn't follow them."
The report suggests people at high risk of death and low chance of long-term survival will be low priority. But so will people older than 85, burn patients older than 60, the severely mentally impaired, and those with chronic diseases or severe trauma with critical injuries.
However, Scheidt says those things need to be looked at on a case-by-case basis for the leeway to save those who are medically strong even with those conditions.
"You need to be governed by ethics, by moral values, by prior planning, by training, (and) by all kinds of things that guard you from doing unfair things," says the doctor, "because expedience usually degenerates into what I personally want, rather than what is good for my patient or for society as a whole."
Still, Scheidt says doctors have always had to plan ahead for their medical emergencies and treatment -- and providing recommendations like those published by the task force is one of the best ways.