Politics_Observer wrote:@Rancid
Well these doctors have to choose who lives and who dies once ICUs are at full capacity. Their is no escaping that choice. Who should they choose once ICU beds reach full capacity? Those who chose to refuse to vaccinate without good cause over those who did vaccinate? Or vice versa? Who would you choose to live or die when forced to make such a choice if you were the doctor and forced to make that choice? It's getting to the point where there is no way around it and doctors will be forced to make a choice despite any oath they took as a doctor.
This is something battlefield doctors have to do all the time in war time in the military services. They have to prioritize patients and choose who lives and who dies. In many respects, this is somewhat similar here. Civilian doctors might not realize this until those ICU beds fill up to full capacity because many of them have never been battlefield doctors. But that reality will probably come soon at the rate we are going.
A doctor will always base their decision on how to ration care based on the current conditions of the patients. That is to say, if an unvaccinated patient appears to be in a worse condition, then they will get more attention/resources. If a vaccinated patient appears to be in worse condition, then they will get more attention/resources. This is how they are supposed to make their choices. They intentionally do not and should not factor the series of events/mistakes/choices the patient made that got them into the hospital. I believe this approach is in line with their oath of care.
We should not expect, nor require doctors to make decision based on how stupid or not stupid their patients are. So yes, they owe an ethical duty to those who refuse to vaccinate.
That said, although I'm saying that doctors should not be tasked with making those kinds of judgements with patients. I think it should be ok for hospitals, healthcare systems, and insurance companies, to make those decisions for the doctors. I guess what I'm saying is, we should position doctors such that they do not have to make decisions on this sort of thing, but the rest of us can do it for them.
EDIT:
If you have two covid patients in equally bad shape, with resources to only treat one. That is a position we should not be putting our doctors in ever. If they are in that position, I would expect them to just do the best they can to save both people with what little they have.
As much as I want the unvaccinated to die. I just don't feel we should be having doctors do that for us.
I can think of 11780 reasons Trump shouldn't be president ever again.