Ethical conflicts in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

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Published: Feb 28, 2023
Keywords:
COVID-19, healthcare workers, pandemic, ethical issues, standard of care, end-of-life

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Swarup Kumar Panda
Department of Biochemistry, IMS & SUM Hospital, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (Deemed to be) University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India.
Subhashree Ray
Department of Biochemistry, IMS & SUM Hospital, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (Deemed to be) University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India.
Pragya Panda
Department of Biochemistry, IMS & SUM Hospital, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (Deemed to be) University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India.
Rajlaxmi Tiwari
Department of Biochemistry, IMS & SUM Hospital, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (Deemed to be) University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India.
Pooja Priyadarsini
Department of Biochemistry, IMS & SUM Hospital, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (Deemed to be) University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India.

Abstract

Background: Healthcare setups in India are encountering a lot of medical, ethical, legal, and social challenges endorsed by the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, modifying the healthcare protocols, which are considered a standard of care. The ethical conflicts are pressurizing the decision-makers of society, to revamp the basic principles and traditional assumptions of our present healthcare modalities.


Objectives: This report addresses the common but crucial ethical issues, encountered by healthcare workers e.g., doctors and paramedics in day-to-day healthcare practice during the COVID-19 pandemic.


Materials and methods: This report tries to cover several ethical aspects of COVID-19 such as: setting priority of screening; professional responsibility of healthcare workers; dilemma encountered by a doctor; compromise of patient confidentiality; allocation of scanty resources; end-of-life situation, and certain critical clinical scenarios.


Results and conclusion: COVID warriors from the health sector possess dual responsibilities of taking utmost care of COVID patients ethically, along with self-protection from this havoc. COVID-19 has taught us the lesson that, extra-ordinary time calls for extra-ordinary measures. Also, intervention performed upon the patient affects not only the patient, but also the whole of society.

Article Details

How to Cite
Panda, S. K., Ray, Subhashree ., Panda, Pragya ., Tiwari, R., & Priyadarsini, P. (2023). Ethical conflicts in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Associated Medical Sciences, 56(2), 96–98. Retrieved from https://he01.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/bulletinAMS/article/view/258986
Issue
Vol. 56 No. 2 (2023): May-August
Section
Research Articles
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Personal views expressed by the contributors in their articles are not necessarily those of the Journal of Associated Medical Sciences, Faculty of Associated Medical Sciences, Chiang Mai University.

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