Revd Prof. Ian Bradley’s reservations about not “rationalistically” prioritising the young over the old, to access scarce lifesaving resources (Letters, 11 April), could be dispelled by some basic philosophical and theological distinctions.

Firstly, treating every human life as equal is not an unattainable luxury, but owed as a matter of justice, to everyone, essentially without discrimination. Only incidentally, in situations where rescue of everyone in danger of death proves physically impossible, is it right to discriminate those who can be more, from those who can be less, easily rescued, and even then, not because life is of essentially greater value to the former than the latter, but because saving only some is a lesser evil, incidentally, than saving none.

Secondly, Christianity distinguishes charity from justice. There is no moral obligation to prioritise the young over the elderly, even if it might sometimes be generous of those over 65 to sacrifice themselves. The 73-year-old priest giving up his ventilator for a younger patient, owed it to do so, not in justice to that patient, but only in charity to God.