Coin toss could decide who gets bird flu treatment: expert

0 Comments | AFP, October, 2006

WELLINGTON (AFP) — The toss of a coin could decide who gets treatment if a bird flu pandemic takes hold in New Zealand, a leading medical expert has said. Medical services could be overwhelmed in a pandemic, Michael Ardagh, professor of emergency medicine at the Christchurch School of Medicine, said in an article in the New Zealand Medical Journal on Friday.

Access to medicine, ventilators or hospital beds could be determined by "a process of equal and unbiased chance, such as tossing a coin or use of a ballot" if the system was overwhelmed, Ardagh said in the article. Last year the New Zealand government estimated a pandemic could claim 33,000 New Zealand lives and cost the economy up to 30 billion dollars (20 billion US) in the first year. The health ministry has estimated...