Resource allocation during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Contributions to an ethical approach

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought dramatic worldwide consequences affecting social, economic and healthcare systems. Considering that the number of infected patients requiring admission to intensive care units far exceeded the available resources, healthcare professionals have had to face challenging decisions concerning who should benefit from the limited resources and who should not. In this context, after a careful ethical reflection, we propose some principles to be adopted when dealing with allocation resource decisions, based on core ethical values. Ideally, these strategies should be established and integrated into institutional policies before a crisis scenario, in order to anticipate a potential new public health emergency and prevent possible tragic consequences.