Kenneth Prager MD Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Medical center Director Clinical Ethics Chair Medical Ethics Committee How can the most lives be saved The greatest ethical challenge in the current pandemic is how to ethically allocate scarce lifesaving resources to save the ID: 933128
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Slide1
Ethical Issues in Scarce Resource Allocation in COVID-19 Pandemic
Kenneth Prager, MD
Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Medical center
Director, Clinical Ethics
Chair, Medical Ethics Committee
Slide2How can the most lives be saved?
The greatest ethical challenge in the current pandemic is how to ethically allocate scarce life-saving resources to save the most lives when demand outpaces supply.
Slide3What are the scarce resources?
Human resources: physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists,
etc
Material resources
ICU beds
Ventilators
Dialysis machines and dialysate
Medications
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
COVID testing material
Slide4Options
First come, first serve, OR
Triage: favor those most likely to survive over those less likely, regardless of their places in the line
Utilitarianism: do the most good for the greatest number
How good are we at prognostication?
How can we avoid discrimination?
Slide5Ethical principles involved in triage
Patient autonomy: respecting patient’s wishes regarding access to life sustaining treatment
Request to receive life support even with poor prognosis
Beneficence: do the most good possible for our patients
Is the physician’s obligation to do what is best for his/her patient ever trumped by acting for the greater good of society?
Slide6Triage: ethical principles
Non-maleficence: first do no harm
Withholding or withdrawing life support against patient or family wishes is a major violation of this principle
Justice: fair allocation of scarce resources
Any triage policy must be vetted carefully to be fair to all patients regardless of race, ethnicity, income, immigration and insurance status
We have been triaging patients for receipt of organs for transplant for decades with societal acceptance
Slide7Triage policies: Basic features
Approximately 60 such policies across the country
Triage committee: decides who shall receive life support or have it withdrawn, based on a scoring system using objective medical data and +/- clinical judgment
Exclusion criteria: certain criteria will exclude patients from receiving life support
These severe medical conditions indicate remote likelihood of surviving to discharge even with life support
Sequential Organ Failure Assessment—SOFA score evaluation, calculated on admission and regularly thereafter; accuracy for Covid-19?
Slide8Triage policies: Basic features
Based on SOFA score patients placed in 4 categories:
Prognosis for survival too poor to justify ventilator
Patient status too good to need ventilator
Patient with favorable prognosis but in need of ventilator
Sicker patients with less favorable prognosis who may benefit from ventilator
Slide9Triage policies: Basic features
Exclusion criteria
Unwitnessed cardiac arrest
Irreversible hypotension
Severe traumatic or hypoxic brain injury
Any condition resulting in immediate or near immediate mortality even with aggressive therapy
Trial of ICU treatment
Assessed at regular intervals
Patients improving continue on ventilator
Patients not improving or deteriorating: ventilator withdrawn if needed for patient with favorable prognosis
Slide10Withholding or withdrawing ventilator
Decision not made by treating physician
Decision made by triage committee based on objective criteria applied fairly to all patients
Withholding ventilator—DNR/I--much easier emotionally for physicians and family than withdrawing
Need for rapid GOC discussion with family and role of palliative care
Slide11Concerns with triage policy
Disability community concerns re: discrimination
Intellectual disability
Dementia
Severe physical disability
Concerns that age may play inappropriate role in life support decisions
Is there bias against people with poorly treated medical conditions because of poor access to health care who have worse prognosis for survival?
Minority communities
Slide12How will public react to triage policies?
Public trust is essential if the policy will be implemented
Mistrust already exists in disability and minority communities
Needs legitimacy from governor/legislature to carry this out
Must not be perceived by public as being policy of certain hospitals only
Physicians must be guaranteed legal protection if they carry out policy
Must be transparent
Must treat all people, ethnicities, immigrants, uninsured and insured alike.
Slide13Controversial triage questions
Should patients requiring more intense care be disadvantaged?
Should patients with poorer long term prognosis be disadvantaged?
Should physicians, nurses, and other health care providers be favored in allocations?
If so how?
If not, how will this affect morale?
How would this be perceived by the public?
Slide14Potential legal liability
Major obstacle to implementing triage policy
“Existing federal and state statutes provide limited immunity to physicians and nurses in times of emergency
“But importantly, these laws do not clearly immunize decisions to withhold or withdraw ventilators, which might be seen as willful, reckless, or wanton conduct and thus beyond the scope of existing shields
“Moreover, only a small number of states extend immunity to criminal charges”
Potential legal liability for withdrawing or withholding ventilators during COVID-19; Cohen, Crespo, White;
Journal of the American Medical Association
, April 1, 2020
Slide15Potential legal liability
“Clinicians making triage decisions do so at the judgment of future juries.
“A clinician who intentionally withdraws a ventilator from a nonconsenting patient could conceivably be charged with criminal homicide.
“If the clinician knows that removing the ventilator will result in the death of the patient , the applicable charge would be murder.”
Cohen, et. al.;
op.cit
.
Slide16The need for urgent action by State Governments
“With potentially thousands of triage decisions on the horizon, clinicians should not be expected to move ahead with implementing triage protocols based on the hope that prosecutorial discretion or sympathetic juries will protect them in the future.
“…State legislatures must take action…[to] immunize all health care clinicians and health care entities from civil and criminal liability for ventilator triage decisions made in good faith compliance with mandatory or voluntary state-approved protocols…
Cohen, et.al.,
op.cit
.
Slide17Emergency Disaster Treatment Protection Act
Passed by NYS legislature April 7, 2020
Grants qualified immunity to hospitals, nursing homes, administrators, board members, physicians, nurses…from civil and criminal liability arising from decisions, acts, and omissions occurring from the beginning of the Governor’s emergency declaration on March 7 through its expiration, and covers liability stemming from the care of individuals with and without COVID-19.
The immunity will not apply to intentional criminal misconduct, gross negligence…but makes clear that acts, omissions, and decisions resulting from a resource or staffing shortage will be covered.
Slide18Reaction of NYC hospitals to COVID crisis
Instead of implementing triage policies, NYC hospitals have greatly expanded their ICU and ventilator capacities and the number of ICU physicians and nurses to accommodate vastly increased numbers of critically ill patients
Operating rooms,
cath
labs, and other spaces have been converted into ICUs
Slide19Toll on health care providers
Physicians, nurses and ancillary hospital personnel have performed heroically under the most stressful conditions
Threat of becoming infected
Threat of spreading infection to family members
Need to physically separate themselves from family at times
Enormous emotional toll of dealing with large numbers of dying patients who are separated from their families
Recent suicide of Allen Pavilion ER doctor after recovery from COVID, with no history of mental illness
Slide20Moral distress of physicians and nurses
Moral distress of having to continue life support for patients with no chance of survival whose families want “everything” done
Risk of becoming infected while treating these patients
Prolonging the dying process of such patients
Using scarce resources of ventilators, dialysis machines, PPE while treating these patients
Critical roll of palliative care physicians
Slide21The post COVID future
Will the way medicine is practiced be changed?
telemedicine
Will our approach to medical futility/unbeneficial medical care be altered?
Will the unethical situation of social determinants of medical inequality be addressed?
What can be done to prevent our lack of preparedness in case of future pandemics?