Disaster Ethics & the Trouble with Triage
"Pandemics are uniquely destabilizing." Matthew Lee Anderson, founder of the journal Mere Orthodoxy, gave a presentation on the imago Dei and the value of a life at The Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity's virtual conference on June 26, 2020. The West, he said, derives its idea of human rights from the concept that men and women are made in the image of God, and therefore have intrinsic value and worth. From this, we can determine ethical norms on how a patient should be treated in a medical setting. Those norms, however, get turned on their heads in a triage situation.
During a disaster—whether a natural disaster, armed conflict, or pandemic—the medical infrastructure can become...
has an M.S. in chemistry from the University of Texas at Dallas, and an M.A. in bioethics from Trinity International University. She resides in Dallas and currently works as a freelance science writer and educator.
Get Salvo in your inbox! This article originally appeared in Salvo, Issue #54, Fall 2020 Copyright © 2024 Salvo | www.salvomag.com https://salvomag.com/article/salvo54/unfair-care
