Leaders Make Decisions About Death All the Time – Right Now It is Badly Needed

Politicians and the media are saying that reopening our economy would be a crime against all humanity. "We cannot put one person's life at risk!" The truth is that decisions regarding death are made much more frequently than people realize. People that have spent a life in politics seem to not understand this fact.

When I was a freshman of engineering at Drexel University, I took a mandatory course on Engineering Ethics. The professor opened the first lecture with this statement and question: “When construction of the Walt Whitman Bridge was considered, it was estimated that it would cost $200 million dollars (I don’t remember that cost estimate so I fudged it) and it would also cost the lives of 6 workers during the construction. How did a cost benefit analysis ever justify the construction of that bridge considering that lives would be lost?”

I answered the professor’s question. with another question: “How many lives would the bridge save once it is in use?” The professor was pleased with my quick response and asked me how the bridge would save lives? I replied that people would be able to get to hospitals faster, and that more direct travel routes would reduce travel distances and traffic congestion which would reduce automobile accidents. The professor told me that my answer was exactly the cost benefit analysis that justified the bridge’s construction.

My answer to justify known loss of life seemed to be common sense to me. But now I view the nightly news and wonder how people can be so foolish with the corona virus and the need to reopen our economy. Have we lost our common sense?

Think of other endeavors that people knew would cost lives: NASA and the quest to reach the moon. How much more risk can a human being take than strapping themselves to a rocket that will take them out of earth’s gravitation and into an uninhabitable environment for the sake of adventure. But it was not for adventure. It was for protection. We raced to space because we feared that the Soviet Union would get there first and put us in a vulnerable position militarily. We took the risk of a few lives to protect all Americans’ lives. We lost lives, but we were all safer for it.

Think about drug trials in human beings. There are risks, but if a drug proves effective, it may save many lives. Think of military exercises. It is awful when we hear the news that a few of our military personnel have lost their lives during exercises. But it is those exercises that keep us safe from our enemies that could cause much more harm.

Courageous leaders take the decisions to conduct space exploration, to test drugs on humans, to conduct military exercises and to build bridges, skyscrapers, airports, railways, and highways. They take every reasonable measure to prevent the loss of life and/or injury, but they know zero-loss-of-life is not possible. The result of these difficult decisions is progress.

Hell, every time we get in a car, we are making a decision involving potential death. However, we believe that the chance of the deadly accident occurring to us is so infinitesimal, that we drive ourselves to where we want to go. Some people do not complete their trip. Today, 38,000 Americans are killed in car accidents every year, but politicians do not ban driving. In 1970 the number killed was 52,000 with fewer people on the road. We keep learning more and better ways of making cars and driving safer. However, we do not stop driving to wait for the safety improvements we know will come next year.

In our current corona virus environment, it may have been wise to pause the economy to learn about the virus and ways to combat it. The primary concern was not having enough healthcare resources to handle the virus. We now know we can handle the healthcare workload. It is now time to make the difficult decision to risk lives and put America back to work. Another pause, if our healthcare resources become overwhelmed, is still possible (but should be regional). But let us cross that bridge if we get there.

The government has thrown about 3 trillion dollars of bailout money to keep the economy on life support. On top of that the Federal Reserve has said it can throw another 3 trillion dollars into buying bonds to keep the credit markets working. And, most importantly, we have learned that the corona virus is not as deadly as originally feared. It is awful to be sure, but it will not obliterate mankind.

What justifies returning to work when we know lives will continue to be lost? Saving even more lives by allowing people to work.

Work puts purpose into many lives. There is all too common a view that work is a chore, but people know it is how they provide for themselves and for their families. These simple facts mean that work puts purpose into people's lives. Putting purpose back into people’s lives will steer them away from drug and alcohol abuse and reduce the mental health and suicide problems that are increasing in this period of isolation. And it will prevent hunger. Yes, people are dying from corona virus, but people die from the flu as well (up to 125,000 Americans per year). Yet, we do not shut down the economy every flu season.

Then there is the final justification - we need to pay for all the government bailouts by working and paying taxes. Keep the economy shut down for much longer and printing money will no longer work. The people that are currently able to make donations to food banks will no longer be able to make those donations. Think about not having the money to pay for our social safety net (government and private). This is not a pretty picture. Worldwide, due to a lack of American charity, estimates of up to 60 million children will die from hunger this year.

Continuing to add barriers such as on-demand testing for every American whenever they want a test, or to track and source-trace every new case of the virus is preposterous (we have never done this for the flu or any other novel disease). These are excuses that stop leaders from taking the decision that involve known death. I am sorry to say, it is cowardness. A lack of courageous leaders taking the difficult decisions will lead to even more death. It is time for courageous leaders.

Maybe next year we will have on-demand testing and 100% source-tracing. Maybe next year a self-driving car will eliminate all car accidents. Until then, we still have to pay the bills.

FYI: My college professor ended the discussion of the Walt Whitman Bridge construction by informing the class that not a single life was lost during construction. By the time construction started, a new technology of safety nets had been put into practice. Quite a different story from the 13 lives lost on the Ben Franklin Bridge that was built almost a century earlier about 2 miles north across the same Delaware River. However, there was still loss. After engineering school, I married a fellow Philadelphian. Her uncle was an iron worker on the bridge. He fell only 8 feet but was paralyzed from his waist down for the rest of his life. (Maybe next year we will have a corona vaccine.)