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  • What is common and what is different: recommendations from European scientific societies for triage in the first outbreak of COVID-19

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What is common and what is different: recommendations from European scientific societies for triage in the first outbreak of COVID-19
  1. Joana Teles Sarmento1,2,
  2. Cristina Lírio Pedrosa2,3,
  3. Ana Sofia Carvalho2,4
  1. 1 Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine Department, Centro Hospitalar do Médio Ave EPE, Vila Nova De Famalicao, Braga, Portugal
  2. 2 Instituto de Bioética, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Porto, Portugal
  3. 3 Pediatrics Department, Hospital de São Bernardo, Setubal, Setúbal, Portugal
  4. 4 Centro de Estudos de Gestão e Economia, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Porto, Portugal
  1. Correspondence to Dr Joana Teles Sarmento, Centro Hospitalar do Médio Ave EPE, Vila Nova De Famalicao, 4169-005 Braga, Portugal; teles.joana{at}gmail.com

Abstract

A public health emergency, as the COVID-19 pandemic, may lead to shortages of potentially life-saving treatments. In this situation, it is necessary, justifiable and proportionate to have decision tools in place to enable healthcare professionals to triage and prioritise access to those resources. An ethically sound framework should consider the principles of beneficence and fair allocation. Scientific Societies across Europe were concerned with this problem early in the pandemic and published guidelines to support their professionals and institutions. This article aims to compare triage policies from medical bodies across Europe, to characterise the process of triage and the ethical values, principles and theories that were proposed in different countries during the first outbreak of COVID-19.

  • ethics
  • distributive justice
  • allocation of health care resources

Data availability statement

Data are available in a public, open access repository.

This article is made freely available for personal use in accordance with BMJ’s website terms and conditions for the duration of the covid-19 pandemic or until otherwise determined by BMJ. You may use, download and print the article for any lawful, non-commercial purpose (including text and data mining) provided that all copyright notices and trade marks are retained.

https://bmj.com/coronavirus/usage

https://doi.org/10.1136/medethics-2020-106969

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    Data availability statement

    Data are available in a public, open access repository.

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors JTS substantial contributions to the conception and design of the work; acquisition, analysis and interpretation of data; major writing and conception of the work and revising; final approval of the version to be approved. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work. CLP substantial contributions to the conception and design of the work; acquisition, analysis and interpretation of data; writing and conception of the work and revising; final approval of the version to be approved. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work. ASC contributions to the conception of the work; acquisition, analysis and interpretation of data; revising it critically for important content. Final approval of the version to be published. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

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