Pandemic emergency triage: about the risks of a trolleyology

Abstract

Access (or eventual withdrawing) to intensive care (specifically to mechanical ventilation) in conditions of high disequilibrium between medical needs and resources, was one of the most debated topic during the SARS-CoV-2 emergency. Particularly controversial was, in Italy, the publication on 6th of March 2020, in a tragic context, of the document entitled Clinical ethics recommendations for the allocation of intensive care treatments in exceptional, resource-limited circumstances by the Italian Society of Anaesthesia Analgesia Resuscitation and Intensive Care (SIAARTI), which uses age as possible criterion for accessing mechanical ventilation The aim of this article is to debate the theoretical approach adopted by the SIAARTI, as well as the identified criterion for prioritizing intensive care patients in the context of emergency. A brief analysis from the egalitarian point of view will follow.