top of page

Ethical Framework for Health Care Institutions Responding to Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Guidelines for Institutional Ethics Services Responding to COVID-19

   During a public health emergency, healthcare executives have a

 

responsibility to plan for the handling of foreseen ethical difficulties.

 

   When there is doubt about how to "do the right thing" in clinical

 

practice when obligations or ideals clash, ethical issues arise. Because

 

health care reacts to human suffering, ethical difficulties in health care

 

are widespread even under normal circumstances. Professionalism in

 

health care should include ethical behavior. Professionals, on the other

 

hand, frequently feel unsure or distressed about how to continue.

 

Patients with life-threatening illnesses, especially those who lack the

 

mental capacity to make decisions about life-saving procedures and

 

other medical care, are frequently the subject of doubt.

​

   During public health emergencies, an ethically sound framework for

 

health care must strike a balance between the patient-centered duty of

 

care—the focus of clinical ethics under normal circumstances—and

 

public-focused duties to promote equality of persons and equity in the

 

distribution of risks and benefits in society—the focus of public health

 

ethics. Because physicians, nurses, and other clinicians are trained to

 

care for individuals, the transition from patient-centered practice to

 

patient care guided by public health considerations causes significant

 

tension, particularly among clinicians who are not used to working in

 

emergency situations with limited resources.

​

   This article is intended to provide public health and clinical practice

 

guidelines on COVID-19 in the context of a health care institution's

 

preparation efforts. Its goal is to assist continual discussion of

 

substantial, foreseen ethical dilemmas that arise at contingency and

 

perhaps crisis levels of care. Its approach is to raise practical problems

 

to administrators and physicians that they may not have addressed

 

before and to encourage real-time policy and process assessment and

 

revision. This article will also go through the three responsibilities of

 

healthcare leaders in a public-health emergency: planning,

 

safeguarding, and guiding. It will provide thorough instructions to assist

 

hospital ethics committees and clinical ethics consultation (CEC)

 

services in swiftly preparing to support doctors caring for patients

 

under contingency and, perhaps, crisis care standards.

 

 

 

 

Ethical Framework for Health Care Institutions Responding to Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Guidelines for Institutional Ethics Services Responding to COVID-19, 2020, www.mentice.com/hubfs/COVID-19/White%20paper%202020%20-%20Hastings%20Center%20COVID%20Ethical%20Framework.pdf.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn

©2021 by Team 4. Proudly created with Wix.com

bottom of page