Triage in Pandemics: Legal and Ethical Perspectives

The project, which began during the COVID-19 pandemic, was completed in late 2024. It focused on the dilem­matic situation that requires choosing between patients who need life-saving resources. What should the criteria for the distribution of resources be, and who should define them? What role does the notion of human dignity play? Do medical staff face the risk of criminal prosecution for their decisions? These and other questions were ex­plored in a joint project conducted by the Department of Criminal Law and the Department of Public Law. In 2021, an edited volume with contributions from scholars from the disciplines of philosophy, medical ethics, constitu­tional law, and criminal law was published. A second edition that includes discussion of a new statutory provision in Germany, § 5c Protection against Infection Act (IfSG), came out in 2024. In the last stages of the project, the legislative process and its final outcome were scrutinized. It was concluded that the current law is not capable of meeting the challenges a future pandemic would pose.

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