Publication Title
Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2015
Abstract
It is a matter of time before the next widespread pandemic or natural disaster hits the United States (U.S.). The international response to the 2009 H1N1 influenza stands as a cautionary tale about how prepared the world is for such an emergency. Although the pandemic fortunately proved to be less severe than initially anticipated, it nevertheless resulted in shortages of medical equipment, overburdened hospitals, and preventable patient deaths, particularly among young people.
A pandemic will inevitably lead to difficult decisions about the allocation of medical resources, such as who will have priority access to ventilators and critical care beds when demand exceeds supply. We previously evaluated the protocols public health and medical organizations have promulgated to guide allocation decisions in a public health emergency. We concluded that many of these protocols violate U.S. law and ethics with respect to people with disabilities, because they exclude some people with disabilities from receiving care altogether or because of a need for prolonged use of resources, poor “quality of life,” or limited long-term prognosis.
Because the legal and social status of people with disabilities is tied to underlying societal attitudes toward impairments, cultural differences between populations may lead to significantly different distributive outcomes. In this paper, we examine other countries’ approaches to the allocation problem in public health emergencies, both to identify other approaches to these challenging problems and to provide insight into how to develop more equitable policies to guide allocation decisions during a public health emergency in the U.S.
Recommended Citation
Katie Hanschke, Leslie E. Wolf, & Wendy F. Hensel, The Impact of Disability: A Comparative Approach to Medical Resource Allocation in Public Health Emergencies, 8 St. Louis U. J. Health L. & Pol'y 259 (2015).
Institutional Repository Citation
Katie Hanschke, Leslie E. Wolf & Wendy F. Hensel,
The Impact of Disability: A Comparative Approach to Medical Resource Allocation in Public Health Emergencies,
Faculty Publications By Year
2069
(2015)
https://readingroom.law.gsu.edu/faculty_pub/2069
Volume
8
Issue
2
First Page
259
Last Page
300
Included in
Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons, Comparative and Foreign Law Commons, Disability Law Commons, Emergency and Disaster Management Commons, Emergency Medicine Commons, Health Law and Policy Commons, Health Policy Commons, International Humanitarian Law Commons, International Law Commons, Legal Studies Commons, Public Administration Commons, Public Affairs Commons, Public Health Commons, Public Policy Commons
Comments
External Links
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