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BEST IELTS Writing Task 2, 8th July
IELTS WRITING TASK 2
IELTS WRITING TASK 2
Sometimes in medical emergencies, hospitals choose to give care to younger patients first. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this practice?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
SAMPLE ANSWER
When there is a medical emergency and a hospital has to decide who they will treat first, the younger patient is often selected. Personally I do not agree with this, though what I am going to suggest may have the same outcome anyway. I believe that making a decision for priority of care based purely on age is not fair. Many people would disagree, saying that older people have already had the benefit of experiencing life and that younger people should get the same chance. I believe that all lives have the same value and that a person’s age is irrelevant.
I propose that in emergency situations, the decision should be made on the probability of the patient’s recovery. The patient that is more likely to benefit from immediate care should be treated first. A person’s age may be part of this decision making process, in the sense that a very elderly person might be less likely to get better.
On the other hand, if someone is ill, being very young can also lessen the likelihood of recovery. Other factors should also be taken into consideration. One person’s illness might be more serious or one of the interventions may take longer than the other. One factor that I believe should never be involved in the decision making process is a person’s socio-economic status.
I can understand that staff at hospitals are obliged to make instant ethical decisions and by having a policy that means giving care to young people first, these decisions are more easily made. But what if there is a small age difference such as five years? Should the policy remain the same?
People who work in hospitals should not have the burden of making such decisions about priority of care on top of the already difficult job they have. However, I do believe that there should be other criteria added to that of age when deciding who should receive care first. Basically the decision should be based on who is more likely to recover and age might only be a part of that.
IELTS Writing Task 2