In the corona pandemic, the topic of triage came into focus due to the intensive care units being partly full. The Federal Minister of Health has now announced a legal framework.
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach has promised strict legal criteria for so-called triage, i.e. for prioritizing patients when capacities are too tight.
With a view to a possible discontinuation of treatment for patients with a lower chance of survival, the SPD politician said on Monday that such an “ex-post triage” was ethically unacceptable. Neither doctors, patients nor relatives should be expected to do this. “That’s why we won’t allow it.” Even triage before treatment should only be possible under strict conditions, said Lauterbach.
In the corona pandemic, the topic came into focus because of intensive care units that were sometimes busy. The term triage means that if there are not enough ventilators or beds, doctors determine who will be treated first. The background to the planned new regulation is a decision by the Federal Constitutional Court at the end of last year. Accordingly, the Bundestag must “immediately” take precautions to protect people with disabilities in the event of a triage. So far there is no legal framework for this, but scientifically developed recommendations for doctors.
Lauterbach said that the “grey area of medical decisions” had to be illuminated after the verdict. The ministry will shortly present a draft as a formulation aid for the coalition factions. “Triage decisions were a real danger in this pandemic in Germany, but never part of everyday life,” said Lauterbach. «Thanks to corona measures and patient transfers, we have managed to take good care of all the sick. It should remain so in the future.”
In principle, a distinction is made between triage in advance (“ex-ante”) and subsequently (“ex post”), as the ministry explained. On the one hand, it is decided in advance who will be treated. Ex-post triage therefore means that the treatment of a patient with a low probability of survival is discontinued in order to be able to treat a patient with a better prognosis.
Source: Stern
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