ASCO recently released a set of recommendations to support the oncology community as health-care institutions across the United States face potentially difficult decisions around the allocation of scarce health-care resources during the COVID-19 pandemic. In some geographic areas, the ongoing crisis is expected to demand more resources than federal or local health-care systems can supply, and institutions will need to develop allocation decision policies as they provide care for a growing number of patients.
The recommendations state, “ASCO affirms the inherent worth and dignity of each patient affected by cancer and recognizes that cancer is a heterogeneous disease that differs in its prognosis, progression, and treatment for individuals. Allocation decision processes therefore should not unconditionally deny patients with cancer consideration for access to scarce resources.”
The recommendations were developed by the ASCO Ethics Committee, approved by the Board of Directors, and accepted after peer review for future publication in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
ASCO’s recommendations aim to encourage the development of fair and equitable policies at the health system level for allocation of resources, especially critical care sources, and are not intended to guide individual treatment decisions.
ASCO’s recommendations assert:
View the full recommendations.
View all of ASCO’s COVID-19 resources.
© 2020. American Society of Clinical Oncology. All rights reserved.