Rule of Rescue

The essence of the rule of rescue is that public and political priorities will always see the immediate needs of the sick and injured as more important. It is unlikely to matter if a national public awareness campaign is funded next month or even next year, but it will very much matter if emergency services are cut or inadequate on the day that they are needed.

Joseph Stalin infamously said that one death was a tragedy, while a million deaths were a statistic. The beneficiaries of prevention are statistical non-victims, not self-identifying individuals whose pain, neglect or imminent death can call attention to their plight.