When considering allocation of ventilators during COVID-19, the Australian general public are willing to prioritise groups based on age, likelihood of treatment success, disability, whether the patient has dependents, smoking status, and whether they work in healthcare.

However, when asked who should make such decisions, they tend to prefer clinicians to be the final decision makers.

There are considerable differences in opinion across the population. So, while the general population may prefer decision making to be made by others, this process has to be informed through a broad set of stakeholders.