This decision prioritizes the immediate preservation of life, which is the paramount ethical principle in emergency medicine. While security protocols and informed consent are normally critical safeguards, the scenario presents an imminent life-or-death situation where delay guarantees death. Dr. Nkrumah is present and can provide medical oversight even if he cannot physically operate the controls. The protesters' actions, while perhaps motivated by legitimate concerns, are creating an unjust barrier to life-saving care. In medical ethics, the principle of beneficence (acting in the patient's best interest) and the duty to rescue take precedence when death is otherwise certain and immediate. The security protocols exist to protect patients, not to enable their preventable deaths.