Should we prioritise victims over terrorists in medical triage?

Whether injured terrorists should receive equal consideration in medical triage as their victims is a morally and emotionally challenging issue for healthcare providers. Against the conventional approach, some commentators have argued for a 'victims-first' principle in which severely injured victims should always be prioritised over an injured terrorist even if the terrorist is worse off based on justice ideas. This paper argues that supporters of 'victims-first' fail to sufficiently justify the subversion of the equal rights of terrorists to treatment and the role and professional ethics of healthcare providers in the allocation of scarce medical resources. Accordingly, they fail to substantiate an exceptional approach for emergency medical triage during terror or terror-like attack situations. © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.