Medical Sorting (TRIAGE): Implementation Problems and Legislative Ways to Overcome Them

Abstract

The relevance of the topic chosen for research is due to the situation in which Ukraine and the entire civilized world found themselves, –  the war and the pandemic of the acute respiratory disease COVID-19, which is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. How it is possible to provide medical care to as many people as possible without violating the principles of reasonableness and fairness in its provision is a question that both medical professionals and legal scholars of all democratic countries of the world are trying to answer. And one of the ways to solve this problem is the use of medical triage (TRIAGE). The purpose of this article is to consider medical triage as one of the forced measures of providing medical aid in emergency conditions, when there is a lack of medicines, medical personnel, medical equipment, etc., with a large number of victims. With the help of an empirical research method, as well as methods of analysis, generalization and explanation, the author managed to consider the history and reasons for the emergence of medical triage, investigate and determine the prerequisites for its use, positive and negative features, the possibility and necessity of its use during pandemics and states of war. The author identified the problems that arise in the application of medical triage and proposed ways to overcome them, which is the result of this study.