Who should MDs let die in a pandemic?

The report is out. A group of influential doctors has made the hard choices that will have to be made in the case of a deadly pandemic.

Those out of luck are the people at high risk of death and a slim chance of long-term survival. But the recommendations get much more specific, and include:

_People older than 85.

_Those with severe trauma, which could include critical injuries from car crashes and shootings.

_Severely burned patients older than 60.

_Those with severe mental impairment, which could include advanced Alzheimer's disease.

_Those with a severe chronic disease, such as advanced heart failure, lung disease or poorly controlled diabetes.

The rest of the story is here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080505/ap_on_he_me/pandemic_rationing_care;_ylt=Av8ZgOwSIGFQOw8BMrL4S4hZ24cA

I'm curious about this. If you are bothering to make a list to prioritize medical resources, why not go all the way? Why not do every different category of human and make a pecking order from the top to the bottom? We know there is a pecking order at both ends. The US President officially gets the best care. At the other extreme, they're apparently gonna pull the plug on the very injured and elderly.

What about the 95% in the middle? Do we just duke it out for the respirators?

Good questions. Lets think about it. Others at the top of the list.

Public servants like police, firemen, EMS.

All health care workers.

All military.

High ranking government officials, local and national.

Others?

People who are screwed.

The poor in urban and rural areas.

illegal aliens (you hear that Radar! :lol2:) seriously.

The handicapped.

Anyone with long term chronic expensive illness like HIV or Hepatitis.

others?

Women and children first!

...wait a sec...

Ibram;451169 wrote:

Women and children first!

...wait a sec...

Women and children should be protected to preserve civilization. You can't breed em without the women.

1- Me.
2- Everybody else.

Bruce has it.
Except that he has the wrong person on the top of the list.

TheMercenary;451171 wrote:

Women and children should be protected to preserve civilization. You can't breed em without the women.

Yes yes.

Ten women to every man.


As long as I'm one of those men....

Now will they do the German Eugenics thing or the Noah and the Ark thing?

Eh, screw civilization. Join the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement. I did.

"Phasing out the human race by voluntarily ceasing to breed..."

Ummmm, sure.... ummm, tell it to the Chinese, Indian's, and Mexican's.

this seems logical to me. I'm sure triage is a heart-rending task, and perhaps having this thought out beforehand will ease the way.

TheMercenary;451191 wrote:

"Phasing out the human race by voluntarily ceasing to breed..."

Ummmm, sure.... ummm, tell it to the Chinese

You are kidding, right?
Referring to the nation that did all it could to prevent parents having more than one child?

Anyway - I have voluntarily ceased to breed.
Can I have my medal now please?

TheMercenary;451191 wrote:

"Phasing out the human race by voluntarily ceasing to breed..."

Ummmm, sure.... ummm, tell it to the Chinese, Indian's, and Mexican's.

Don't you mean "Chinese's"?

Sundae Girl;451205 wrote:

You are kidding, right?
Referring to the nation that did all it could to prevent parents having more than one child?

One child policy!!!?!?!?! There's 1.25 BILLION OF THEM!


Magnitude and Growth. As the world's population surpassed 6 billion (6,000,000,000) in October 1999, China's population represented more than 1/5 of this total (20.8%) -- one out of every five people in the world lives in China. Today, China's population exceeds 1.25 billion (1,250,000,000), a number that continues to increase minute-by-minute on Beijing's official Ticking Population Clock:

http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/china/geog/population.htm

HungLikeJesus;451207 wrote:

Don't you mean "Chinese's"?

yea, them.

piercehawkeye45;451183 wrote:

Yes yes.

Ten women to every man.


As long as I'm one of those men....

Oh, great. So the post apocalyptic world is going to be filled with ten times the chores and bellyaching then? :bolt:

I didn't see ugly people on that list nor did I see the tackily dressed or the women with too much make up.

Funny that. I didn't see shallow people on there either.

I'm on there under that heading! I'm so shallow that a walk through the river of my soul would scarcely wet your feet!

I think that after a worldwide pandemic, the kind of thing that kills a huge portion of the human race and leaves nothing left of society as we now know it......things will sort themselves out.

regular.joe;451288 wrote:

I think that after a worldwide pandemic, the kind of thing that kills a huge portion of the human race and leaves nothing left of society as we now know it......things will sort themselves out.

It will have to be a big one before we get to that point. Or one where we have no immunization plan. It is quite possible. Ten infected people on ten different airplanes all landing in ten different countries over the course of a few weeks. Yea, it could get bad fast.

And stinky pooters and pee pee diters

huhwha?

Ibram;451169 wrote:

Women and children first!

...wait a sec...

TheMercenary;451171 wrote:

Women and children should be protected to preserve civilization. You can't breed em without the women.

I don't think you get it, merc...

"Who should MDs let die in a pandemic?"

"Women and children first!"

Sundae Girl;451205 wrote:

Anyway - I have voluntarily ceased to breed.
Can I have my medal now please?

I know what you're sayin'.....I've decided not to be the quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys.


I've also decide not to be a porn star......I'm afraid my wang would get tired or sore.....


gotta live my life the way i want to.

Elspode;451284 wrote:

I'm so shallow that a walk through the river of my soul would scarcely wet your feet!

When the time comes, I want to be one of Elspode's ten women.

(bruce, I will sneak back and forth between you two so no worries, K?)

Two thoughts:

1) This kind of list makes very logical sense when medical care is a limited commodity, and the goal is to preserve the most (by number saved) and most enduring (by probable remaining time) human life. The other alternatives are to allocate those limited resources by luck (whoever they get to first) or by power (whoever can insist on being treated, by force or by money).

2) Medical care is always a limited commodity.

I am going to guess that the lack of any official guidelines for medical personnel in post-Katrina hospitals led to the creation of this panel and its report. It does sound heartless. But not brainless.

It's funny, My disabled brother is going to outlive us all. No matter what. That's hilarious!
Bwahahaaa!! Outside of being disabled, he's perfectly healthy and great at surviving. Not like me..or you. Or you..or you...

Who should MDs let die in a pandemic?

Hopefully, me.

um, what?

Shawnee123;451679 wrote:

Who should MDs let die in a pandemic?

Hopefully, me.

I totally understand.