Are we living in an ethical dystopia?

Reflections on the assumptions and theoretical implications that underlie the decision-making of the MINSA

Abstract

This essay attempts to provide a constructive philosophical reflection on the document «Ethical considerations for decision-making in health services during the COVID-19 pandemic» (E.C.) prepared by the Working Group on bioethical aspects of the MINSA (2020). In it, a series of scientific, technological and, above all, ethical recommendations are made that must be taken into account when effectively using the scarce resources available to increase the well-being of patients in a health crisis scenario. In this scenario, what we consider to call an ethical dystopia is highlighted; that is, a situation where it is difficult for us to make decisions, since our moral intuitions do not usually resolve ethical dilemmas and difficulties, worse still, many
times these decisions are contradictory. Likewise, utilitarianism and deontology are the ethical theories that, in general terms, underlie our moral intuitions and those that have permeated the E.C. Finally, in the light of these considerations, our ethical dystopia will be exposed; what problems, dilemmas and moral contradictions underlie the E.C. and how the aforementioned ethical theories respond to these difficulties that the health crisis has highlighted and that forces us to face.