Quote:
Originally Posted by someone123
But this story is kind of misleading since it's not clear that the 35 year old really would bump the 70 year old off the list under normal circumstances. Both should get treatment. The need to make trade-offs comes into play in extreme cases like ventilators that are used to capacity during a pandemic. And the differences are even starker than the life expectancy tables suggest because survivability drops off. If you've got a 90 year old with other conditions, their 5 year survivability odds are poor on or off a ventilator, while an otherwise healthy 20 year old might have 30% odds of living another 50 years if given a ventilator.
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This is a twisted version of the original point and thus not relevant here. I was not discussing life-and-death situations where things like ventilators are needed to survive. Indeed, I began my original post with a disclaimer about ER cases where urgent care was required. I was and am talking about chronic condition treatment - things like knee and hip replacements, rheumatology, cardiac, orthopedic, and other surgical procedures - that have a significant impact on day to day quality of life. These are absolutely rationed and doled out only following a decision process that takes into account the "future utility" of doing them.
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