The full details of what [Dr. Anna] Pou did, and why, may never be known. But the arguments she is making about disaster preparedness \u201d\u201d that medical workers should be virtually immune from prosecution for good-faith work during devastating events and that lifesaving interventions, including evacuation, shouldn\u2019t necessarily go to the sickest first \u201d\u201d deserve closer attention. This is particularly important as health officials are now weighing, with little public discussion and insufficient scientific evidence, protocols for making the kind of agonizing decisions that will, no doubt, arise again.<\/p>\n
At a recent national conference for hospital disaster planners, Pou asked a question: \u201cHow long should health care workers have to be with patients who may not survive?\u201d\u009d The story of Memorial Medical Center raises other questions: Which patients should get a share of limited resources, and who decides? What does it mean to do the greatest good for the greatest number, and does that end justify all means? Where is the line between appropriate comfort care and mercy killing? How, if at all, should doctors and nurses be held accountable for their actions in the most desperate of circumstances, especially when their government fails them?<\/p>\n