As a doctor you faced a dilemma and had to make an ethical choice. Summarize your thoughts in a diary entry. Comment on global health ethics.
Answers
Diary entry about the ethical choice I made as a doctor when I faced a dilemma
Explanation:
23rd April, 2019
Dear diary,
When I was becoming a doctor, I knew life will not be easy. We were trained not only to deal with patient's illnesses but to break the bad news to their families.
Today was such a day when a young boy came in with a serious infection in his foot. We examined it and unfortunately we had to cut the infected part to stop the spread of infection.
When I told his family, they were very reluctant because it was so heartbreaking for them. I told them that his life is more important. He can have surgery later and get a prosthetic foot. So many people have it and lead a happy life. As long as he is alive everything is possible.
Finally, I convinced them and we successfully removed the infection.
Answer:
Explanation:
Sir,
The unexpected and unprecedented challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic has inflicted tremendous strain on health care resources, even in developed countries. The sheer magnitude of numbers coupled with high virulence of the infection has triggered country wide lockdowns across vast swathes of the globe. One group expected to work as usual in these trying times are health care workers and, therefore, the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of frontline health care workers is gaining legitimate attention (Ayanian, 2020; Lai et al., 2020). In this regard, we point out a few moral and ethical dilemmas that can be faced by health care workers (HCW) while attending the call of duty:
1.
Dilemma 1 – How to balance my ethical duty to care for my patient against genuine concerns of contracting COVID-19 and spreading it to my family? These concerns are likely to be more pronounced among health care workers with aged parents or young children. To some extent, these concerns are also fuelled by limited availability of personal protective equipment (PPE), inequitable distribution of available equipment and limited and constantly changing recommendations on usage of masks and other PPE.
2.
Dilemma 2 – Should I retain ventilatory support for a critical patient who is unlikely to survive or use the ventilator for a less critical patient with better prognosis? As much as doctors are bound by the Hippocratic oath that entrusts every doctor to treat all sick patients to the best of their abilities, in times such as these, triaging of finite resources is a pragmatic consideration. Consequently, frontline HCW’s may find themselves in an unpleasant situation where they have to make a choice of allocating scant resources for those who need them the most