Proportionality and Resource Allocation in a Pandemic

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic triggered a new reflection on the ethical criteria to be adopted in critical situations and circumstances of scarcity in healthcare resources or human resources. In this regard, the different socioeconomic contexts of the diverse world regions are highly relevant to the public health and clinical decision-making process. This process should involve more than applying existing guidelines to concrete situations and concerns. This chapter provides an analysis of a debate in Chile that has dominated discussions about the fair allocation of resources. Because of Chile’s established socioeconomics and social culture of solidarity, a nonutilitarian approach to proportionality was dominant during the pandemic. Indeed, the focus of the Chilean approach has been the priority of “caring over curing,” which implied redeeming and deepening the concept of proportionality. For this reason, the Chilean case may help in rethinking the main focus of medicine: the patient, not the resources.