%0 Journal Article %1 citeulike:3344142 %A Sokol, Daniel K. %D 2008 %I Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group %J The American journal of bioethics : AJOB %K citeulikeExport pal %N 8 %P 28--29 %R 10.1080/15265160802318121 %T Ethics and epidemics. %U http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15265160802318121 %V 8

@article{citeulike:3344142, added-at = {2019-03-31T01:14:40.000+0100}, author = {Sokol, Daniel K.}, biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/24bd58a21fadd1abd028fa013c0b45e96/dianella}, citeulike-article-id = {3344142}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15265160802318121}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/routledg/ajob/2008/00000008/00000008/art00010}, citeulike-linkout-2 = {http://view.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18802855}, citeulike-linkout-3 = {http://www.hubmed.org/display.cgi?uids=18802855}, comment = {(private-note)3 The American Journal of Bioethics Ethics and Epidemics Daniel K. Sokol When plague reached Venice, for example, physicians fled in flocks to avoid contagion. In 1382, the problem had reached such proportions that the city passed a law forbidding physicians to flee in times of plague, and other major European cities followed suit shortly thereafter (Zuger and Miles 1987). DR Congo Ebola: hospital with no physicians. writes: Much of the evidence about physicians abandoning patients during epidemics, when read in context, furnishes no proof that such conduct violated prevailing ethical norms (6). visiting Canada after SARS: In the corridors of the hospital, conspicuous posters praised the work of HCWs, calling them 'heroes'. In private conversations, there was also much talk of the HCWs who refused to work during the epidemics. Some of the clinicians and bioethicists who frowned on the deserters invoked 'duty of care', using the phrase as a trump card to justify what they considered to be unethical behavior. Used in this loose, authoritative manner, I felt the phrase duty of care (or duty to treat) could be ethically dangerous. It could pressure HCWs into working in unacceptably risky conditions while presenting the ”illusion of legitimate moral justification” (Sokol 2006, 1238). the limits of the duty were contin- gent on various factors, many of them mentioned by Malm and her colleagues (2008), including the ”normal risk” (4) level (hence, a physician working in rural DRC with poor facilities can expect to incur higher risks than a physician in an English village) ALSO risks vs benefits and what kind of doctor they were I also argued that the duty is not absolute but prima facie (or, to be more precise, pro tanto) (Sokol 2006). In other words, the duty should be discharged unless it conflicts with one or more other duties with greater moral force. MULTIPLE AGENCY A clinician's duties are not limited to clinical duties. Clinicians are multiple agents, belonging to the medical profession but also to other moral communities. A physi- cian may also be a husband, a parent, a brother, and a son, and each of these roles carries its own obligations. In vir- ulent epidemics of infectious disease, especially when the risks to oneself are high and transmission to loved ones a distinct possibility, the prima facie obligation to care for the sick may conflict with other non-clinical moral obligations.}, doi = {10.1080/15265160802318121}, interhash = {075e7127496d8598d5d7664fdc5b9113}, intrahash = {4bd58a21fadd1abd028fa013c0b45e96}, issn = {1536-0075}, journal = {The American journal of bioethics : AJOB}, keywords = {citeulikeExport pal}, month = aug, number = 8, pages = {28--29}, pmid = {18802855}, posted-at = {2011-09-30 02:58:38}, priority = {0}, publisher = {Routledge, part of the Taylor \& Francis Group}, timestamp = {2019-03-31T01:16:26.000+0100}, title = {{Ethics and epidemics.}}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15265160802318121}, volume = 8, year = 2008 }