Ethics in disaster, mass casualty care, and critical care

Tanya Egodage; Jay Doucet; Purvi Pravinchandra Patel; Matthew J Martin

doi:10.1136/tsaco-2024-001389

Ethics in disaster, mass casualty care, and critical care

Trauma Surg Acute Care Open. 2024 Apr 15;9(Suppl 2):e001389. doi: 10.1136/tsaco-2024-001389. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Tanya Egodage¹, Jay Doucet², Purvi Pravinchandra Patel^{3

4}, Matthew J Martin^{5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Surgery, Cooper University Health Care, Camden, New Jersey, USA.
² University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.
³ Department of Surgery, Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, Illinois, USA.
⁴ Department of Surgery, Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, Illinois, USA.
⁵ Department of Trauma Surgery, Scripps Mercy Hospital San Diego, San Diego, California, USA.
⁶ Department of Surgery, Los Angeles County Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, USA.

Abstract

The primary ethical principle guiding general medical practice is autonomy. However, in mass casualty (MASCAL) or disaster scenarios, the principles of beneficence and justice become of foremost concern. Despite multiple reviews, publications, and training courses available to prepare for a MASCAL incident, a minority of physicians and healthcare providers are abreast of these. In this review, we describe several MASCAL scenarios and their associated ethical, moral, and medicolegal quandaries in attempts to curb potential future misadventures.

Keywords: Ethics, Medical; Mass Casualty Incidents; Patient Comfort; intensive care units.

Publication types

Review