Catholic News Service: “Ethicists, Lawyers See Dangers in Rationing of Scarce Health Resources”
The NCBC’s Father Tad was quoted in a March 25, 2020, news story by Catholic News Service:
Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, director of education at the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia, said there is no "one-size-fits-all answer" to resource allocation questions.
"In calamities, of course, hard questions arise," he said. "If a very sick man with COVID-19, who also has leukemia and congestive heart failure, is using the only available ventilator at a small rural hospital, would it be fair to unplug him and give the ventilator to a woman, slightly younger, who just arrived by ambulance and needs it, and who seems to have somewhat better prospects of survival? It really depends on the details.
"If continued ventilation were likely to result in his improvement and survival, and was beneficial with few burdens, it could be wrong to take it from him," Father Pacholczyk added.
But especially at Catholic hospitals in these difficult times, he said, "pastoral attention and caring for every person, especially every weakened and vulnerable person," must be paramount.
"We must avoid yielding to a kind of panic, and losing the calm of accompaniment that should be part of the experience of every visitor to our hospitals, including those facing their final days and hours," he said.