April 9, 2020 08:17
(Act. Apr 9, 2020 8:17 AM)
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According to Körtner, the crisis shows deficits in dealing with death.
© APA / HERBERT NEUBAUER
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According to the medical ethicist Ulrich Körtner, the corona crisis shows the “structural deficits” in dealing with death in Austria. Körtner also warns of conflicts between young and old.
If you look at the number of people who have died and been seriously ill from Covid-19 so far, “Fortunately Austria is in a different situation than Italy or Spain,” said medical ethicist Ulrich Körtner of the APA. Nevertheless, the crisis in Germany revealed “structural deficits” in dealing with death and the topic of “dying”. The scientist warns of conflicts between young and old.
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“Broad commemorative culture” is developing in China and Italy
Fortunately, the number of corona deaths in Austria has so far been limited to 273 (as of April 8, 3:00 p.m.), according to the Protestant theologian and ethicist from the University of Vienna. Since this has not yet reached the size of a “national catastrophe”, those people who have lost someone through Covid-19 are still standing to a certain extent while “a kind of broad culture of remembrance” is developing in China or Italy.
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Irrespective of the sometimes dramatic appeals by politicians, including the problematic image of “resurrection after Easter” for Austria, Austria is a bit far “in the audience. I do not see that society is now jerking, very massive with our finiteness and To deal with mortality. ” The crisis shows “basically how secular our society really is,” said Körtner.
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Austria: “Air upwards” in death culture
At the same time, it is becoming clearer that in Austria there is still room for improvement in the area of ”improved death culture” despite years of discussion. Much of the recommendations of a parliamentary inquiry in 2015 on the subject had not been implemented. “In an extreme situation like the current one, the existing deficits will of course become noticeable,” says Körtner, whose findings are less focused on intensive care, but more on palliative or hospice care as well as retirement and nursing homes.
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The latter must offer and do so both a life perspective and perspectives in dealing with dying in a “certain dignity and intimacy”. In discussions with people working in the area, it is shown “that the houses are reaching their limits when dealing with corona patients and their relatives”. The fact that suspected cases then logically move to hospitals and remain there if the test is positive, means that if the course of the disease is bad, “dying shifts out of the houses again”.
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But that is not because of the individual institutions, but because of structural questions “about the culture of death and care for the end of life,” emphasized Körtner. Accordingly, options should be considered, even with a severe Covid 19 course, for example in a nursing home or in family and family care and – according to the wishes of many people – not necessarily die in hospital.
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Körtner: Young are played against old
The medical ethicist sees ideas as “extremely critical” which, given Austria’s re-starting, include the greater isolation of risk groups – and thus above all the elderly. In addition to great ethical concerns, there are also very pragmatic arguments against it – such as the question, “Where does age start?” Flat-rate containment of certain age groups is not only “medically wrong, it also has socially problematic effects,” said Körtner, who also warns here that a generational conflict will begin to break out, in which “young people are played against old people”.
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Nevertheless, it is important that older people now reduce their social contacts. “But I think enforcing this is also problematic from a constitutional and constitutional point of view” and amount to a questionable patronizing of social groups, emphasized the ethicist.
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Fortunately, the overstraining of the health system seems to be passing Austria for the time being. With all hope that “we will never get into such triage situations”, institutions should still think about the criteria according to which the operation will continue if worst-case scenarios actually occur. This requires binding, ethically sound guidelines. However, it is to be feared that such difficult and unpleasant questions and structural health reforms will probably be put on the back burner after the crisis has subsided, probably in a few months’ time.
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