COVID-19: VARIEGATED ROUTE MAP OF ETHICAL QUESTIONS
Keywords:
COVID-19, Patient Confidentiality, Professional Responsibility, Research Ethics, Triage/Resource AllocationAbstract
The fast and widely spread pandemic COVID-19 across the world elicits several prompt responses from medical, political, epidemiological, financial and social sectors. They are all very much in place. Equally relevant are the ethical issues which call for thorough consideration while the humankind is bent on fighting the novel coronavirus in a frantic mood. Without pretending to be exhaustive, this paper brings forth six areas that unleash the most pressing ethical questions during the COVID-19 pandemic. They include questions related to professional responsibility versus personal safety, patient confidentiality, triage/resource allocation, research ethics, personal liberty versus common good, and the environment. This paper does not attempt to propose solid ethical approaches to the ethical questions, instead offers a birds-eye-view of the range of relevant ethical questions. It ends with a reflection on the question whether going through the pains of the epidemic, either as an affected person or as persons close to affected people, will make us morally better persons mechanically.
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