Impact of an Epidemic Disaster of a Country 1.) What if we have a major disaster in this country such as an epidemic? What would the impact be?
Will we be called upon to make decisions about who
survives?
Please refer to the newspaper article entitled Choosing who Survives in a Flu Epidemic.
As we look to the future and the availability of resources in such a situation, what is the ethical perspective of who should live or die? Based on the
readings, what are your thoughts? How should such a decision made? Should it even be made at all? Whatever your answer, defend it using some rational ethical
criteria.
2.) Please refer to the David Vetter case (“the bubble boy”) article. What are your thoughts from an ethical and resource allocation perspective?
If David were born next week instead of in 1971, do you think we should begin the ever-more-demanding bubble process? Whatever your answer, defend it using
some rational ethical criteria.
