Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Playing G-d

I would like to add a further note about the guidlines of who to treat in the event of a pandemic.
Any generalizations and assumptions made by this committee are just that. I know plenty of 85-year olds and almost-85 year-olds who are healthier than people 15 years their junior. And we have plenty of “important” people, I am sure, who have chronic illnesses.

Now I can imagine some of my more liberal readers thinking:
“Well, society has to protect itself. We need to protect those who are more needed by society. This is only a last-resort list.”
Yet, the problem is, we are letting people who are not G-d play G-d. In a crisis, they will need to do their selections quickly. Amazingly articulate and healthy 85 year olds may be refused care, while abusive individuals will receive treatment. And I suppose that people who fail even two criteria will get treated, if they have enough money to bribe the staff.
Unfortunately man does not have the capacity to know all, as G-d, and I fear the day that they will play such a role.
And I still find telling the guideline’s priorities, in lumping the mentally impaired along with anyone with low statistical survival rates.

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