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by themitigating
1076 days ago
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(I'm only pointing this out) There's also the issue where people believe that everyone, regardless of age, should be treated to the maximum level possible (or what they can afford in the case of the US). If you publicity suggested that someone who is 99 years old and in poor health shouldn't receive some treatment that costs a massive amount of money/resources you would be looked at in disgust. No politican would even dare. Combine that with the selfish nature of most people (of course to be fair the instinctual desire to avoid death) and an aging population (as you mentioned) and it seems like a few generations are going to be weighed down to extended the lives of the least productive members of society. |
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Assuming most disease based hospital stays (heart attacks strokes, cancers) are biased towards older folk it makes sense that resources to younger folk be prioritised.
It makes -sense-, but asking a decent human to turf an "old person" out of bed because a "young person" has arrived (with a survivable, but urgent condition) is tough.
In war triage is a thing. Save the ones who can be saved, more-or-less ignore the ones you can't. We cannot, and should not, expect civilian medical staff to triage ambulances, A&E, ward beds. But health services are being drowned in the meantime.