An Interesting Question

This morning as I watched Sunday Morning on television it seemed as if most of the segments were about the Coronavirus. Of course, watching the news all week and reading headlines on the Internet I was pretty much aware of what is happening in our government and the medical field. I have read what we should do, and not do, to try and stop the spread of the virus. And then I heard Ted Koppel on Sunday Morning and a new fear entered my mind.

His question was that if a young woman and he were in need of a ventilator, who would get it? My first thought was that the young woman would get it and the old man would not. Then I switched my thinking and thought the old man would get the ventilator because he is famous and the young woman was not. My thought then moved to whomever had more money or was famous would have a better chance of getting it. What about a homeless person, would that person even be considered? The doctors would be playing God and I was filled with sadness that some would die for lack of medical equipment or supplies.

It used to be that first come, first served was the way to handle deciding who got medical attention. In 2011, The Ethics Committee of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention came up with Priority is given to those most likely to survive. The pandemic we are in now is causing some rethinking of how the equipment will be used. It's a scary thought that one or two persons can decide who lives or dies! I happened to see a speech by Bill Gates made in  2015 about not being prepared for a pandemic and the quote below, by him, rings so true today!

"The fact that there was no catastrophic

pandemic in recent history does not

mean there won't be another one.

And, we are certainly not prepared

for the next pandemic."

Bill Gates