Em decorrência da pandemia COVID-19, o artigo encontra-se disponível em acesso aberto.During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, highincome countries have faced shortages of medical supplies, personal protective equipment (PPE), ICU beds and ventilators [1]. In this unexpected scenario, physicians working in the world’s richest nations have been left to decide who will receive mechanical ventilation and, ultimately, who lives and who dies. Most countries in the Global South have yet to experience a significant wave of COVID-19, but are predicted to follow a similar trajectory as the Global North.