Addressing the Problem of Choice in an Overloaded Health Care System: A Review of Medical Association and Ethics Commission Documents on Triage During the Covid-19 Epidemic

In several countries, the Covid-19 pandemic has caused situations in which the healthcare system was severely overburdened. Medical associations and ethics commissions of various countries have thus developed documents for dealing with situations where scarce resources would not suffice to treat all patients optimally. The documents were prepared to aid the distribution of the limited resources for treatment as fairly as possible among the sick and to unify the criteria for fair distribution within the country. The chapter analyzes guidelines and recommendations for triage during the COVID-19 pandemic from eight European countries (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy) and the United States.