Ethical Deliberation in the Allocation of Respirators and Beds during the Covid-19 Pandemic in Brazil

This chapter proposes a theoretical reflection on the ethical deliberation process in the allocation of beds and respirators, in the light of the Theory of Health Justice, the Accountability for Reasonableness approach and the principle of health equity of the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS, as per its Portuguese acronym), before the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil. The pandemic has become a serious threat to health systems, as installed capacity has been exceeded whether in terms of material resources, equipment, technology and human resources. Thus, according to the theory of Accountability for Reasonableness, a fair and deliberative process aims to ensure resource allocation through limits and constraints (reasonableness), but government responsibility derived from human rights must be considered, allowing for health programming (accountability). Faced with this scenario, where the situation will often require us to make choices, this chapter intends to discuss the assumptions for ethical deliberation, taking into account the context of the act and its foreseeable consequences.