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Title:

Standard of Care—In Sickness and in Health and in Emergencies

Authors:

Lawrence O. Gostin, Dan Hanfling, James G. Hodge, Jr., Brooke Courtney, John L. Hick, Cheryl A. Peterson

Date posted:

September 30, 2010

Publication type:

Letter

Publication:

N Engl J Med 2010;363(14):1378-1379

Publisher:

Massachusetts Medical Society

DOI:

10.1056/NEJMc1007700

Availability:

Subscription required

Introduction:

Annas (June 3 issue) critiques national, consensus-driven efforts to define and craft crisis standards of care for catastrophic health emergencies involving scarce resources. He concludes that the movement supporting altered standards of care has been based on “false premises,” namely that existing standards of care cannot guide the delivery of health services in “worst case scenarios” and that the development of national guidance perpetuates myths about liability risks during emergencies. We are members of an Institute of Medicine (IOM) committee that was tasked by the Department of Health and Human Services with developing crisis standards of care, but our reply is based on our individual convictions.

Full article available on publisher's website; subscription required.