Enlarge image
Care of a Covid 19 patient who is in an artificial coma and is ventilated
Photo: Marijan Murat / picture alliance / dpa
The Federal Constitutional Court has decided: Politicians must lay down rules for triage. That sounds boring to some people. Others don't see what the problem is in the first place. I think we need to discuss triage with as many people as possible. Because it is a problem that affects everyone in the corona pandemic. Triage is the decision of who dies and who is allowed to live. Doctors decide if two people need to be ventilated to survive - but there is only one device left.
The problem with triage is that you need rules to make a decision. Until now, that of a professional association for doctors was in effect in Germany. The most important question was: who has a better chance of survival? That sounds sensible. But the fear is: the elderly or people with disabilities are more likely to die. That is not possible, says the Federal Constitutional Court, the highest court in Germany.
For the past year I have dealt with a life or death decision. My father died in early May 2020. He had cancer. The first wave of the pandemic ruled the country. You weren't allowed to visit anyone in the hospital. Many people died alone in the clinic, my father didn't want that. However, he also wanted to live. Not only did he have cancer, he also had two strokes. That's why he wasn't always approachable. A few hours a week he had enough energy to discuss. In those moments we talked about what should happen to him. That is also the reason why this text is written differently from other columns. I used simple language. It was precisely in this language that I discussed with my father. He had trouble understanding long sentences after the strokes.Or complicated sentences.
We hadn't finished discussing when he passed out.
I asked a doctor in confidence.
She said my father won't live long without an operation.
But with the operation he would have to stay in the hospital for a very long time.
Maybe he would have died without hugging his girlfriend and friends again.
Then I had to make a decision.
Should he have an operation or be discharged home?
No triage was used.
But doctors have suggested that without surgery, he should be cared for at home.
The hospital needed the bed.
I have decided that my father will not have an operation. He was brought home. He woke up a few more times and was very happy to be home. He didn't feel like going to the hospital anymore, he would have made the same decision as I did. He died two weeks later. I write down my father's story because there is little public talk about death. And because I believe that people's own decisions should also be taken into account when discussing triage.
The triage is an extreme situation. Nobody wants her to come. But triage affects the most important values that we humans know. The decision for one life and against another life always has a bad aftertaste: Which person is worth surviving? "Not worth living" is a term used by the Nazis. For example, you referred to people with disabilities or illnesses who murdered them. When discussing triage in Germany, one must always take into account that many, many people were murdered here. Just because they were sick or had a disability.
You are not responsible for a disability.
You are responsible for your own decisions.
I believe that your own decisions should therefore also play a role in the state rules for triage.
more on the subject
Corona crisis: Top lawyer recommends taking the vaccination status into account when making triage decisions.By Dietmar Hipp
In the corona pandemic, one of the most important decisions is whether to get vaccinated or not. It is here
only
to the people who can get vaccinated at all. Unfortunately, we now know that you can even get Corona with a vaccination. But if you are vaccinated, you are much less likely to go to the hospital. And it takes even less expensive apparatus to survive. Getting vaccinated will help defeat the pandemic. Those who deliberately do not get vaccinated opt for a higher chance of hospital and death. That has been scientifically proven.
It is not an easy discussion whether the decision against vaccination should play a role in triage or not.
I respect when someone is against it.
But an example shows why it makes sense.
Suppose, during triage, doctors have to decide who gets a ventilator: an older but strong, unvaccinated man with a good chance of survival.
Or a girl who was too young to be vaccinated but now has a smaller chance of survival.
I believe that the man's decision against vaccination should be taken into account.
Because he is responsible for it.
display
Sascha Lobo
Reality shock: ten lessons from the present
Published by Kiepenheuer & Witsch
Number of pages: 400 pages
Published by Kiepenheuer & Witsch
Number of pages: 400 pages
Buy for € 22.00
Time of price inquiry
12/29/2021 1:09 p.m.
No guarantee
Order from Amazon
Order from Thalia
Order from Weltbild
Product reviews are purely editorial and independent.
Via the so-called affiliate links above, we usually receive a commission from the dealer when making a purchase.
More information here
An important question is what exactly people's decisions should be taken into account during triage.
If someone does a very dangerous sport and has an accident, then that has to do with their decision to participate in the sport.
But I think that you have to see the reason for the emergency in the hospitals.
At the moment, that's the corona pandemic.
Therefore, only the decision that has to do with it and that is known in the hospital should count: the vaccination.
In the case of other emergencies in the future, however, there may also be other decisions.
It is not easy to properly legislate for triage.
One can have many different opinions about this.
So it is important that we all discuss it.
And the government has to listen to what people say about it.
