Scenario: If you were a top of the line expert surgeon and could only save ONE of these two patients who would you choose?

[Still-alive]

So this is just an ethical dilemma that i wonder how people here would solve.

So lets say you are an expert surgeon at a hospital and you are the only one here as well.
Two patients with the same exact symptoms/problem that require surgery arrive at the same exact time. Whoever you choose to operate on the other one will die because you are the only surgeon and you don't have enough time to save both.

One patient is a mayor of a major city and the other is a janitor from a local high school.

Who do you choose to save and why?

I would choose to save the mayor. he's got more important responsibilities than the janitor does

I would choose to save the Janitor because just because you have a job others might think less of doesn't mean their lives are worth any less then others

I would just flip a coin and let lady luck decide who i save

I'd save the mayor for a different reason (say why)

I'd save the janitor for a different reason (say why)

I'd save neither (say why)

Updates

+1 y

assume they are both good moral upstanding citizens as well

Updates

+1 y

Well other than the coin flippers looks like most are choosing the janitor. Interesting results

[meetkitty123]

I would most likely save the custodian. The man would remind me of my father who started as a custodian and made his way up to head mechanic manager of the town schools and vehicles.
Besides if I was the only one working the hospital I would blame the mayor for not funding the hospital properly so the could affording more doctors 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[Still-alive]

lol good point

[meetkitty123]

Lmao YEAH! Poetic Justice
And I meant "they" typo

[meetkitty123]

Thank you 😉

[LovingLoverReturned]

Good or bad mayor lol?

If I didn't know... more difficult...

I'd save the janitor.
He probably has people depending on him or not... at least if the mayor dies, the family may have support.

[LovingLoverReturned]

Financial*

[Still-alive]

uhh we will say both are good people.

[Still-alive]

interesting point.

[CrazyGirl2]

Unfortunately your question is flawed. No two humans are ever “equal” medically speaking. Also there is NEVER just one surgeon available, and as one surgeon goes into surgery, the hospital calls the next doctor on the call sheet to relieve the deficit! All patients are triaged and the worst one is always the one you start with unless the other one has a much greater chance of survival! These are decisions my mother has made a thousand times, being a trauma surgeon. In this case, there would be another surgeon on his/her way and the hospital would know exactly how far away they were in terms of minutes. Ex “he is 3 minutes out”. In which case you take the worst patient, knowing that the patient with the better chance of survival can wait 3 minutes, this one cannot! The triage of patients is one of the most difficult jobs in the ED. As you know that many times in triaging them as so likely to die, you are signing their death warrant! Its one of the main reasons I am not going into medicine like my mother wanted!

[Still-alive]

this is a hypothetical. so of course some liberties with what reality would be are taken. its just to isolate variables to see what people would do in said hypothetical and why. a few people here did bring up interesting points with it which is what i was after with this question/

[Still-alive]

i do appreciate your point with your mother there. i think i remember my mom saying something like you. she was just an ER nurse though.

[CrazyGirl2]

Hey there us no such thing a “just a nurse” nurses are critical to any hospital and hospitals would close if the nurses all left! Your mom deserves a medal for what she did in that ER/ED. Im sure she is a wonderful woman, and an excellent nurse.

[Still-alive]

lol well i mean in comparison to your your surgeon mom. but yes she has receive awards for her work there. 40 years at it i beleive. she retired in 2010

[CrazyGirl2]

Well god bless her! And good news regarding my mom, she may be getting her bowel reconnected (its called an anastomoses). And it means the no matter what she will be able to be a surgeon again!

[Still-alive]

yippeee! happiness for your mama :*

[CrazyGirl2]

Yeah, things are looking up for her! At one point I thought she lost the will to live, but I reminded her how much I needed her and even if she never operated on another person, the second she had my brother, her most important job was mother, that hasn’t changed, and I still need my mom, maybe even more now! That cheered her up. I hope everything goes well for her, she does not deserve to go out like this!

[Still-alive]

well hoping for continued good health for your mother!

[CrazyGirl2]

Thanks sweetie.

[NathanDavis]

I am quite sure that the hospital director will order me who to save... and I am also sure it will be the mayor, because of his money, influence and power and of course their privileged health insurance...

but lets pretend that is not a thing in America...

then I would "simply" not look at them as a janitor and a mayor... I would see them as just two patients that are in dire need of the same procedure and only one of them can get it, so... I would just base my decision the best way I can with the information I have, who is the healthier one in the first place, who is the younger one... who is the one with more chances to survive the procedure in the first place, and then recover from the procedure as well, who has the less chances to run into complications during the procedure... who would benefit the most from a good outcome and who is closer to that good outcome

if I focus and consider those references for thoughtful and professional evaluation, then it does not have to matter who is a mayor and who is a janitor

[HighlyVolatile]

If I had my way, I'd try to ignore their occupations as much as possible. I'd base my choice on factors like who seems in more desperate need of the procedure (there might be some chance -- however slim -- of the other one surviving long enough for the second procedure), who is more likely to survive and recover from the procedure itself and benefit most from it with the longest and healthiest life, etc.

I'd try as much as possible to prioritize based on purely medical factors.

[HighlyVolatile]

The main reason I'd want to do this is so that I can keep a clean conscience. I don't want to take on the responsibility of trying to decide whose lives are more important than the other. I don't want to base my decisions that way. So I'd try to determine my priorities based on everything but that.

[HighlyVolatile]

If -- in the very unlikely scenario that I arrive at equal priorities for both just based on their health and overall condition -- then I might as well settle it with a coin toss or leave it up to someone else to make the decision. I don't want the responsibility to decide based on non-medical factors.

[SaoirseS]

Have them decide their own fate, have them play Rock Paper Scissors - the winner lives.

[Still-alive]

lo the old ro sham bo huh? neat.

[Brainsbeforebeauty]

Put them in the same operating room and perform two operations as I'm a top of the line expert surgeon. And while I may be the only "surgeon" there, most surgeries involve a surgical team, not just a surgeon, so between my expertise and my team, maybe can save both...

[purplepoppy]

The occupation is irrelevant as both can easily be replaced. However saving the mayor would send a message some lives matter more and erode public confidence. Not saving the major could lead to repercussions from his powerful peers. The real question would my choice go public.

I don't actually need either alive, both dying would solve the problem and I could always harvest their organs. So perhaps I'd just lie and proclaim them both unsavable

[GingerGuy]

There "status" wouldn't matter to me (could be a homeless person). Just like in my opinion, a child's life isn't "more valuable" ("because they have their entire life to look forward to" - I'm sure many want to give it to me for saying that, but please don't lol, just my opinion) than anyone else's. To me, all are equal. Hypothetically, whomever needed it more, or if equal, a toss of the coin I guess lol. It would be a horrible position to be in. Probably quit afterwards.

[call_me_scar]

Depends if the one with the most important job aka the mayor is a good person aka he's not corrupt then I'd save him but if that guy is taking backroom money it's to the morgue with him and the cleaning guy is saved

[Still-alive]

we assume they are both of good character

[call_me_scar]

Then the mayor must survive a good political figure is rare

[Ninania]

What's their age and general health? I'd save the one most likely to survive.

[Still-alive]

same age. same health.

[Ninania]

It's very unlikely they have the exact same lifestyle with such different jobs.

[Still-alive]

yes but its a hypothetical it doesn't have to make the most sense. im just isolating variables to see what people choose.

[ShadezMcgee]

I would save the janitor. Politicians are just worthless money vacuums at the end of the day and if their policies are hurting the very people they should be serving... yeah, fuck them. I am saving the janitor.

[MrNameless]

Who's a better individual? If the mayor is a scum bag, I wouldn't try to save him.

Although I would try to save both, because i would have taken the oath to do so.

[aided_]

I think i would try to save both and end up saving neitherthanks now I'm definitely not becoming a surgeon

[DonkeyDan]

I'd save the janitor because he's not a politician and most likely more use to society.

[Adam1978]

I would save the youngest. Not base it on proffession. A mayor is easily replaced, so is a janitor. So they are equal in my opinion.

[Bluemax]

If it were a mayor in a democracy, then the mayor. In that case, he/she represents the collective will of the majority of the people.

[GoodGuyBreakingBad]

I would choose to save the Janitor because he was a good example for all the students in the school and cleaned a lot of dirty messes and dirty restrooms in school.

[Tiptoetamm]

I'm sure id I was a surgeon I would have surgeon friends I would ask one to take the other case. If I had to choose I would probably save the mayor

[jamesgoldman]

The janitor because the mayor will be remembered and get an obituary probably on the front page, they'd get nothing of the sort the other way round

[Bismarck_96]

I'd save the Janitor

Politicians get to much benefits and would have no trouble with funeral expenses they probably have good benefits like insurance and money plus his wife is probably cheating on him his kids are probably in Harvard

[Hanrej]

I'd save the janitor because I think that person is actually useful. I don't give a crap about politicians who spend their lives deciding for the people wich ones will live harder lives during their rule.