Diminishing Disparities in U.S. Crisis Standards of Care: Medical and Legal Challenges

Hodge JG, Hanfling D, Hick JH, Piatt JL. Diminishing Disparities in U.S. Crisis Standards of Care: Medical and Legal Challenges. EClinicalMedicine – The Lancet. 2021; (online April 16, 2021).

6 Pages Posted: 29 Apr 2021

See all articles by James G. Hodge

James G. Hodge

Arizona State University (ASU) - Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law

Dan Hanfling

UPMC Center for Health Security; George Washington University

John Hick

University of Minnesota - Minneapolis

Jennifer L. Piatt

Arizona State University (ASU) - Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law

Date Written: April 16, 2021

Abstract

Despite a decade of planning and development of crisis standards of care (CSC) in the U.S., real-time experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic and other disasters have highlighted shortcomings involving potentially disparate outcomes among patients across racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and other groups. Diverse causes of health inequities underlie critical distinctions in medico-legal approaches to allocating scarce resources. What is medically-warranted to save patients’ lives must be balanced against anti-discrimination laws. In this Commentary we examine medical and legal challenges implicated in real-time allocations of limited resources to promote public health, offering a unified approach to diminish disparate impacts among patients.

Note: Funding Statement: There are no independent sources of reported funding for the production of this manuscript.

Declaration of Interests: The authors, James G. Hodge, Jr., JD, LLM, John L. Hick, MD, and Jennifer L. Piatt, JD, report no conflicts of interest. The author, Dan Hanfling, MD, reports that he serves as Co-Chair, U.S. National Academy of Medicine Forum on Medical and Public Health Preparedness.

Keywords: crisis standard of care, legal, medical, COVID-19, discrimination, disparity, scarce, scarcity, inequities, outcomes, racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, impact

Suggested Citation

Hodge, James G. and Hanfling, Dan and Hick, John and Piatt, Jennifer, Diminishing Disparities in U.S. Crisis Standards of Care: Medical and Legal Challenges (April 16, 2021). Hodge JG, Hanfling D, Hick JH, Piatt JL. Diminishing Disparities in U.S. Crisis Standards of Care: Medical and Legal Challenges. EClinicalMedicine – The Lancet. 2021; (online April 16, 2021)., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3828244 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3828244

James G. Hodge (Contact Author)

Arizona State University (ASU) - Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law ( email )

Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law
111 E. Taylor Street, MC 9520
Phoenix, AZ 85004-4467
United States
480-727-8576 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://https://law.asu.edu/degree-programs/public-health-law-policy

Dan Hanfling

UPMC Center for Health Security ( email )

Pittsburgh, PA
United States

George Washington University ( email )

2300 Eye Street N.W.
Washington, DC 20037
United States

John Hick

University of Minnesota - Minneapolis ( email )

110 Wulling Hall, 86 Pleasant St, S.E.
308 Harvard Street SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455
United States

Jennifer Piatt

Arizona State University (ASU) - Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law ( email )

111 E. Taylor Street
Phoenix, AZ 85004
United States

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