Day 48: "Who Will Be Saved?"

DAY 48

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

WEEK SEVEN: FRIDAY 1 MAY 2020

Who Will Be Saved?

“The concept of triage stems from Napoleon’s battlefields. The French military leader’s chief surgeon, Baron Dominique Jean Larrey, concluded that medics should attend to the most dangerously wounded first, without regard to rank or distinction. Later, doctors added other criteria to mass casualty triage, including how likely someone was to survive treatment or how long it would take to care for them.” - Newspaper article 22 March 2020, The Hardest Question That Doctors Could Face: Who Will Be Saved? By Sheri Fink

And in another newspaper article on 2 April 2020 there was this headline: “In New York, Doctors Face Wrenching Decisions as Supplies Dwindle,” with the following sober note: “’There’s no protocol,’ Mr. Cuomo said on Tuesday when asked if there would be triage of patients if critical supplies run out.” And here’s more: “’We put a lot of weight on saving lives. But it’s not the only consideration,’” said Casey Mulligan, a University of Chicago economist in a newspaper article on 25 March 2020 entitled “Hard Math: Some Economists Want to Measure Economic Cost of Saving Lives.” Translation: Is the cost involved worth it to save this patient?

Let us be clear: what they had to do in Italy earlier in this pandemic is what this is about in these articles, sending home to die the elderly hospital patients who are coronavirus afflicted with pneumonia due to lack of facilities, supplies and staff. This is not about euthanasia, the intentional ending of a life deemed no longer viable. If euthanasia poses an ethical dilemma, this does more so, and there are no easy answers: It is the facing of a painful unavoidable question in the medical context of a pandemic: Who will be saved? 

Economics aside, the excruciatingly painful decision of to whom a ventilator will go when more needs are present than ventilators is impossible to fathom. The decision-making metrics,  whatever they are, will never hopefully be reduced to cost. For the Christian who belongs to Jesus, whatever happens, we can say confidence “My life is in your hands.” Psalm 31:15 CEV

Reflective question: Will you pray daily for wisdom and strength for all health care providers?

Reflective Scripture: Psalm 18:3 – “I call upon the Lord, … and I am saved.”

Reflective hymn:

“God is the Source of Life” – Robert Bayley (1942 -    )

God is the source of life, Father of all living,

Lord Jesus Christ and Holy Spirit giving

life to the souls of all, all of life has value:

God is the source of life.