On pandemics and the duty to care: whose duty? who cares? |
| |
| Authors: | Carly Ruderman C Shawn Tracy Cécile M Bensimon Mark Bernstein Laura Hawryluck Randi Zlotnik Shaul Ross EG Upshur |
| |
| Affiliation: | (1) Primary Care Research Unit, Department of Family and Community Medicine, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, 2075 Bayview Ave., Room E3-49, Toronto, ON M4N 3M5, Canada;(2) Joint Centre for Bioethics, University of Toronto, 88 College St., Toronto, ON M5G 1L4, Canada;(3) Division of Neurosurgery, Toronto Western Hospital, 399 Bathurst St., Toronto, ON M5T 2S8, Canada;(4) Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care, University Health Network, 200 Elizabeth St., Toronto, ON M5G 2C4, Canada;(5) Bioethics Department, The Hospital for Sick Children, 555 University Ave., Toronto, ON M5G 1X8, Canada;(6) Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto, 256 McCaul St., Toronto, ON M5T 2W5, Canada;(7) Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto, 155 College St., Toronto, ON M5S 1A8, Canada |
| |
| Abstract: | Background As a number of commentators have noted, SARS exposed the vulnerabilities of our health care systems and governance structures. Health care professionals (HCPs) and hospital systems that bore the brunt of the SARS outbreak continue to struggle with the aftermath of the crisis. Indeed, HCPs – both in clinical care and in public health – were severely tested by SARS. Unprecedented demands were placed on their skills and expertise, and their personal commitment to their profession was severely tried. Many were exposed to serious risk of morbidity and mortality, as evidenced by the World Health Organization figures showing that approximately 30% of reported cases were among HCPs, some of whom died from the infection. Despite this challenge, professional codes of ethics are silent on the issue of duty to care during communicable disease outbreaks, thus providing no guidance on what is expected of HCPs or how they ought to approach their duty to care in the face of risk. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
| 本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录！ |
|
