Hawaii’s Pandemic Crisis Care Plan Raises Legal And Ethical Concerns … National experts say that Hawaii could face federal scrutiny due to the wording of the plan.
Hawaii stood by its decision to use age as a tiebreaker if needed in treatment decisions, according to the latest version of its plan for allocating resources if the pandemic overwhelms the state’s health care system, despite criticism that the plan may discriminate against older patients.
The age provision has drawn concern from advocacy groups and national experts who warned the wording could possibly risk federal scrutiny and even federal sanctions.
“You just don’t get to use age or race or ethnicity or other things as a basis for who wins or who loses in the crisis standards of care allocation scheme,” said James Hodge, a law professor and director of Arizona State University’s Center for Public Health Law and Policy.
