Abstract

ABAL, Federico Germán. Allocating and Reallocating: Two Different Criteria to Distribute Scarce Therapeutic Resources. Anal. filos. [online]. 2021, vol.41, n.1, pp.37-66. ISSN 1851-9636.  http://dx.doi.org/10.36446/af.2021.355.

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, several authors have analyzed what is the appropriate moral criterion to distribute scarce therapeutic resources. In doing so they assume that there is no relevant normative difference between the distribution of unallocated therapeutic resources and the distribution of therapeutic resources that have already been allocated. Consequently, they affirm that the moral criterion to be applied in both decisions is the same. In the present work, I argue that there is a relevant normative difference between these decisions and that the moral criterion to be applied in both decisions must be different.

Keywords : COVID-19; Pandemic; Triage; Shortage; Allocation; Reallocation; Resources.