We have explored the issue of ventilators before, but really, it is not just about ventilators. It is about ICU beds, all ICU life support equipment, and the properly trained health care staff to manage it all. Local Wisconsin news on 4/620 noted a Ventilator Allocation Advisory Workgroup, consisting of nine doctors and bioethicists were seeking public comments. The Survival Coalition of the Wisconsin Disability Groups wrote a letter seeking equal access to ventilators for people with disabilities.

Unfortunately, there is a documented and persistent bias on the part of medical providers against people with disabilities, including grave and inaccurate assumptions about quality of life.

The Workgroup recommendation will go directly to doctors and hospitals to assist with choosing which patients receive ventilators if supply is scarce.

Traditionally, the ethics of medicine is, we always do everything we can for the patient in from of us. In an allocation crisis like this, that can no longer be the rule. We have to revert to the public notion of ethics - what's in the interest of the greatest number, for the community.

- Dr. Normal Frost

Nine health care professionals are making a decision regarding how ventilators will be allocated for your state. Is this a properly represented group? What, if anything, would you change about representation?

Would you sit on this group, or attend the public hearings?

Do you agree with the letter from the disabled advocacy group?

What ethical principle is the statement "what's in the interest of the greatest number, for the community" based upon?

Cite references