Polarized citizen preferences for the ethical allocation of scarce medical resources in twenty countries

Abstract

We collected citizen preferences regarding triage decisions about scarce medical resources, from 20 countries. We find that citizen preferences are universally polarized; citizens either prefer no triage (random allocation or first-come-first served) or extensive triage using all common triage metrics, with ‘prognosis’ being the least controversial. Experts will need to prepare strong arguments to preserve or elicit public trust in triage decisions.