I've read a couple of articles on about Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel's thoughts on the subject, interesting stuff. As a bioethicist this is right up his alley as a "thought experiment" a discussion among colleagues of a "what if" scenario. Not generally available to the public because of the potential for hysteria with such discussions. Like a "theoritcal chemist", who does not actually do any lab work, he proposes ideas, theories, what if scenarios. Sometimes quite outlandish ones.
Such "triage" decisions have to be made in Emergency rooms on a daily basis. Who gets immediate care? Who has to wait? Who is going to die "anyway" and you do nothing? Very tough to discuss these issues, but they have to be dealt with.
Were facing a similiar dilema right now with the H1N1 vaccine. There is not enough to go around, who gets it, who doesn't? In the case on H1N1`it looks like the young and the old, with us "middle age" folks left to fend for ourselves. These are tough choices, like in a "triage" condition. Here's a link to the opinion piece.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...280098676.html