The Ethical Triage Dilemma: Who Should Receive Medical Care First; Is This the Right Question?

Abstract

In 2020, with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, academics and scientists began to question the triage criteria for allocating insufficient healthcare resources, trying to ethically justify the answer to the question, Who should receive medical care first? In this article, I will argue that even if we apply triage criteria, we won't be able to avoid the violation of human dignity or of the right to life and to health care. I will then suggest that, maybe, the real ethical triage dilemma lies not in the question, Who should receive medical care first? but in the question, How are we to decide who should receive medical care first?. © 2023 The Author. Ratio Juris published by University of Bologna and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.