Allocating Medical Resources in the Time of Covid-19

To the Editor: The Covid-19 pandemic has caused severe shortages and threatens to overwhelm health care infrastructure; thus, guidance on allocation like that offered by Emanuel et al. (now published in the Journal ) is much needed. 1 However, their failure to discuss bias, discrimination, or disability is a glaring omission. Their primary recommendation is to maximize benefits by shifting resources to patients with a better prognosis and to focus on life-years saved — a recommendation that builds on earlier arguments for prioritizing the life of a younger patient over that of an older patient with a similar prognosis, since this benefits . . .