TY - JOUR
T1 - Ethical Challenges Arising in the COVID-19 Pandemic
T2 - An Overview from the Association of Bioethics Program Directors (ABPD) Task Force
AU - The COVID-19 Task Force of the Association of Bioethics Program Directors (ABPD)
AU - McGuire, Amy L.
AU - Aulisio, Mark P.
AU - Davis, F. Daniel
AU - Erwin, Cheryl
AU - Harter, Thomas D.
AU - Jagsi, Reshma
AU - Klitzman, Robert
AU - Macauley, Robert
AU - Racine, Eric
AU - Wolf, Susan M.
AU - Wynia, Matthew
AU - Wolpe, Paul Root
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2020/7/2
Y1 - 2020/7/2
N2 - The COVID-19 pandemic has raised a host of ethical challenges, but key among these has been the possibility that health care systems might need to ration scarce critical care resources. Rationing policies for pandemics differ by institution, health system, and applicable law. Most seem to agree that a patient’s ability to benefit from treatment and to survive are first-order considerations. However, there is debate about what clinical measures should be used to make that determination and about other factors that might be ethically appropriate to consider. In this paper, we discuss resource allocation and several related ethical challenges to the healthcare system and society, including how to define benefit, how to handle informed consent, the special needs of pediatric patients, how to engage communities in these difficult decisions, and how to mitigate concerns of discrimination and the effects of structural inequities.
AB - The COVID-19 pandemic has raised a host of ethical challenges, but key among these has been the possibility that health care systems might need to ration scarce critical care resources. Rationing policies for pandemics differ by institution, health system, and applicable law. Most seem to agree that a patient’s ability to benefit from treatment and to survive are first-order considerations. However, there is debate about what clinical measures should be used to make that determination and about other factors that might be ethically appropriate to consider. In this paper, we discuss resource allocation and several related ethical challenges to the healthcare system and society, including how to define benefit, how to handle informed consent, the special needs of pediatric patients, how to engage communities in these difficult decisions, and how to mitigate concerns of discrimination and the effects of structural inequities.
KW - Decision making
KW - end-of-life issues
KW - health care delivery
KW - health policy
KW - public health
KW - rationing/resource allocation
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U2 - 10.1080/15265161.2020.1764138
DO - 10.1080/15265161.2020.1764138
M3 - Article
C2 - 32511078
AN - SCOPUS:85085560248
SN - 1526-5161
VL - 20
SP - 15
EP - 27
JO - American Journal of Bioethics
JF - American Journal of Bioethics
IS - 7
ER -