PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Daniel Hausman TI - Hope or despair: a response to ‘Do not despair about severity—yet’ AID - 10.1136/medethics-2020-106162 DP - 2020 Aug 01 TA - Journal of Medical Ethics PG - 559--559 VI - 46 IP - 8 4099 - http://jme.bmj.com/content/46/8/559.short 4100 - http://jme.bmj.com/content/46/8/559.full SO - J Med Ethics2020 Aug 01; 46 AB - This is a brief response to ‘Do not despair about severity—yet’ by Barra et al. It argues that they have no serious criticisms of Daniel Hausman’s essay, ‘The Significance of Severity’” and that indeed their work lends further support to his view that there is no justification for prioritising severity. As policy-akers, Barra and his coauthors are more constrained by popular attitudes, which apparently favour prioritising severity.