Altered Standards of Care During an Influenza Pandemic Identifying Ethical Legal and Practical Principles to Guide Decision Making

This paper discusses a series of stakeholder workgroups (comprising ethicists, lawyers, clinicians, and local and state public health officials, as well as community members) conducted by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health-Harvard Altered Standards of Care Working Group in 2006 to consider issues such as allocation of antiviral medications, prioritization of critical care, and state seizure of private assets. The planning process and principles for equitable allocation of resources identified by the project may be helpful to other organizations/jurisdictions developing altered standards of care plans.