Bioethics Research at The Hastings Center

Bioethics Backgrounder from The Hastings Center

Who's in Your Fav Five? New Publication Examines Pandemic Decision-Making through Five First Responders

Download Bioethics Backgrounder: Ethical decisionmaking during an influenza pandemic (PDF, 414kb)

International public health experts agree that a new flu pandemic is inevitable. In a pandemic, rationing is also inevitable: vaccines, antiviral medications, ventilators, ICU beds, and supplies of all kinds will be scarce resources that must be distributed fairly.

Most federal and state flu pandemic plans released to date do not offer concrete guidance on how public officials and first responders will make fair decisions under immense pressure during a sustained crisis. Ethical challenges – how a community will make fair decisions about using scarce resources, protecting public health, and keeping basic services running – must be discussed before pandemic hits.

This new Bioethics Backgrounder from The Hastings Center is designed for public officials, health care providers, and others involved in pandemic planning at the local, county, state, or regional level. It describes the ethical duties of planners, and uses five community members, representing different groups of first responders, to help planners discuss ethical questions and create ethically sound plans for first responders to follow.

This publication was produced in collaboration with The Providence Center for Health Care Ethics at Providence Health and Services and was made possible by a grant from the Providence St. Vincent Medical Foundation.

Last Updated: 25 January 2008