MIT Solve

Solution Overview

Solution Name:

Back to Basics

One-line solution summary:

ethical choices in pandemic care

Pitch your solution.

As the Covid-19 corona virus spreads, in the context of globsl warming until Age of Aquarius 2597, adherence by the patient to healthy guidelines, indicating continued desire to live, unimpaired by community members who seek to compete over resources, should inform the medical community's healthcare decisions.

A patient's reasonably supported explanation for his/her lifestyle decisions should be sufficient to justify continued lifesaving measures.

The medical community needs to adhere to 'do no harm' medical practices to minimize litigation.

Film your elevator pitch.

What specific problem are you solving?

Resource Allocation a Security Threat

The basic concept is that, in the context of a global pandemic, and our common interest in finding medical solutions to limit the loss of life, there is no guarantee that money itself will decide who lives and who dies.

Medical practitoners are equally susceptible as patients, and security personnel can only react to deviations from protocol.

Since we have no immediate guarantee that one course of treatment is better than another, the challenge to security personnel is that they are without clear actionable guidelines.

Complicating factors include global economic, religious, and political conflicts which might lead security personnel to be faced with a choice between a dying Patriot and a healthy foreign national.

Due to the diversity of our state, the medical community must limit their exposure to 'do no harm' practices (treatments with only negligible negative side effects).

The patient would be required to acknowledge and consent to more advanced treatments which, though more costly, may also have harmful contraindications.

Plague-like pandemics have in the past killed 25-90% of the world population.

What is your solution?

As we endeavor to retain our individual identities with regards to education, skill, financial resources, a global pandemic threatens to blur these distinctions.

Those situations are used as pretexts for 'might makes right' decision-making in the healthcare community, causing a 'brain drain' through attrition.

Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?

We assume that each patient, left yonhis/her own devices, without interference by security personnel, will act according to his/her own will to live or to die.

Explain how the problem, your solution, and your solution’s target population relate to the Challenge.

The target population is the continental United States, wherein implied is s diverse society.

Unrest, either domestic or foreign, between different Homeland population groups could threaten the institutions of government and industry , causing a grave national security threat.

In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?

Bakersfield, CA, USA

What is your solution’s stage of development?

Pilot: An organization deploying a tested product, service, or business model in at least one community

Who is the primary delegate for your solution?

Samir M Goradia