Team 9 : The Final Decision : One Bed and Two Live

Description

An interdisciplinary team at Toronto Transitional Housing came together for an urgent meeting one evening. There is just one bed left at the Toronto Transitional Housing, but there are two vulnerable individuals who need to be sheltered right away. Sarah, a 30-year-old survivor of domestic violence who recently moved to Toronto from Russia, ran away from her violent husband, who had also previously found her at shelters, but she managed to get away. She has visible injuries from the assault, suffers from severe anxiety and PTSD, and just lost custody of her six-year-old daughter, who is currently in foster care. With no income, limited medical records, and no family doctor, Sarah has been moving between shelters and is now homeless and sleeping outside while trying to stay hidden from her abuser. The second individual is Sam, a 50-year-old man who has been homeless for several years and was recently discharged from the hospital due to diabetes-related issues. Being homeless and living outside makes it difficult for him to take his medication regularly, and the cold makes him physically weak. He also has a history of substance addiction and past disputes in shelters due to anger and substance-related struggles, and has said that he is prepared to get the help he needs, such as through a harm-reduction program The team consists of Matej Mandic (transitional housing program manager), Sara Sepehri (social worker), Dr. Fahad Nadeem (primary care physician), Ashureena Balliram (outreach worker), and Branavan Ravendran (AI healthcare tool company representative). This team must decide who should receive the final bed, which is a very difficult decision because both individuals are very vulnerable and in need of shelter, and thus, to make these decisions, all factors must be taken into account, including safety risks and medical needs. Conflict arises when Branavan introduces his company’s AI predictive tool, which analyzes patient data to determine which person is in the most immediate crisis and is most likely to stabilize, given the resources they have. While Branavan believes the tool could help determine which patient is in greater need and should receive the bed, Dr. Nadeem is concerned about relying on AI because he believes that the AI tool may make mistakes, and it ultimately lacks the human judgment that is necessary to truly understand which individual truly in the most urgent need deserves the bed. As different perspectives come into play, the team must navigate ethical issues about relying on AI rather than the professional judgment of healthcare professionals while making a tough choice of who will receive the last available bed.