The Institutional Tragedy of Pandemic Triage Regulation in Italy and Germany

What is it about?

In a comparative study the authors explore the reactions to the scarcity of resources resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy and Germany. Both countries showed a fragmented structure including single hospitals, medical associations and recommendatory interdisciplinary bodies, such as ethics councils. The authors assess whether the intervention and decision-making of non-legislative bodies met the constitutional standards in which the respective healthcare systems are embedded. Looking at the relevant fundamental rights aswell as constitutional principles it is shown that a certain level of parliamentary involvement in establishing triage criteria or procedures is constitutionally required in both jurisdictions as the situation of extreme scarcity demands a normative choice.

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