“Collision of Lives” in the Conditions of the Coronavirus Pandemic

Abstract

Attention is drawn to the fact that today there are many situations when one has to sacrifice one person for the sake of saving others, which is called “collisions of lives”. The current state of medicine in the context of the spread of COVID-19 infection has given rise to another of these options. The sharp spread of morbidity has created circumstances of the availability of limited resources with increased needs for them. This puts doctors in a position where they have to choose between the lives of patients. The article is devoted to the analysis of such cases. The study analyzed the opinions of scientists, documents of professional communities on the actions of doctors when providing assistance to patients with coronavirus. Examples of judicial practice and the results of a sociological survey of doctors are given. The purpose of this article is a legal analysis of situations of collision of lives that have arisen in the context of the coronavirus pandemic.