Triage in the News

 I was sitting and viewing a N-TV item this afternoon....over Covid.

So triage gets brought up a lot.  In German circles.....triage means that there is limited support medically, and someone is going evaluate you.  They will end up giving you x-amount of service or marginal-amount of care.  

What's this mean for Covid folks?  Well.....you could be identified by your husband or wife for some really bad situation, and an ambulance is called.  You get to the emergency room, and they evaluate you at the front door....then ask, are you vaxed-up or recovered?  If you answer non-vax?  Well....in a triage moment, that doctor could say it's a priority for vaxed-people or recovered people, and you get just plain regular service, no ICU help, or no ventilator.

There's this Freiburg area legal scholar who has reviewed legal situations and basically said.....doctors should have the right to regard a non-vax guy/gal as a second-rate patient....denying them service.  It doesn't matter if you paid the same insurance deal, or lived the same lifestyle.  

There are various other folks who have the opposing view and suggest otherwise.

The fact that we've arrived at some point to discuss how to divide people?  This is a bit of an amusing discussion.  If you'd brought this up ten years ago.....people would have jumped all over the triage idea of denying medical service.

Yet, here we are.

My view?  I have three observations:

1.  If you wanted a serious confrontation at the emergency entrance of hospitals....where relatives or friends are ready to confront in a emotional and hurtful way....this discussion is the way to start that conflict.  You'd have to have at least ten police at each emergency room....ready to take on action that they probably don't want to get involved in.

You'd just end up with police hurt, who probably are non-vax and wounded because of consequences by the doctors.....now they (the policeman wounded) won't get service either.

2.  If this does make sense.....why not ask if they smoke, and deny them service for that 'act' as well.  Maybe we could weigh people at the emergency room door, and deny them service if they are more than 30 pounds over their ideal weight.  That would make perfect sense.  Adding to this....why offer emergency care for overdose folks?  We might be able to empty out 10-percent of all patients in a hospital in a matter of just twenty-four hours.

3.  Finally, realizing how crappy your local service is, and how triage would affect you.....it's quiet possible that your friends or relatives would realize the local mess, and drive you an hour or two....to some remote and less used facility....getting you into that facility for your Covid.  Covid-Taxi service?  You might be dragged 500 kilometers to a hospital with a state hospital unit that would take you.

If you ask me.....is this whole mess working to divide society and create parallel universes?  I'd say yeah.....without a plan or understanding of consequences.....this is a pretty weird deal.