Medical law expert Prof. Erik Hahn in an interview with the SZ newspaper on reports about an alleged triage at the Zittau hospital.
Yesterday, Wednesday, an alleged first triage in the context of the Covid-19 crisis, which is said to have taken place at the Zittau hospital, was discussed throughout Germany.
Erik Hahn, professor at the Faculty of Economics and Industrial Engineering, gave an interview to the Sächsische Zeitung newspaper to help put this into perspective.
In it, the medical law expert concludes, following his assessment of the associated intensive reporting, that the incidents at the hospital were not triage in the strict sense, "as is also being discussed from an ethical perspective."
As an expert in healthcare law, Erik Hahn has often dealt intensively with triage. The term, which originates from military medicine, refers to the fact that in the event of a disaster situation due to a lack of resources, a decision has to be made as to which patient receives the appropriate treatment - namely the one with the greatest chance of survival.
"I am not currently aware of any cases where triage has had to be carried out in connection with a specific illness in Germany," he explains in the SZ article.
Subscribers to the Sächsische Zeitung can find the full article on the SZ online website.
Last September, the SZ newspaper conducted a lengthy interview with Professor Hahn on the same topic and explored the question of the extent to which triage courts are needed in the current crisis, as the question of who should be treated first when the healthcare system is overwhelmed has not yet been regulated by law. The interview can be read again here.
