No one wants to find themselves in a position of resource shortages when caring for patients under any circumstances, but in the face of a pandemic, the potential is certainly present. The American Medical Association has newly released guidance on ethical challenges that arise during pandemics.
The Code of Medical Ethics offers detailed ethical guidance to physicians on these issues that will help physicians approach the difficult decisions in the days ahead.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, some of these ethical challenges could include:
- Allocation of limited resource
- Caring for patients in the face of personal risk
- Use of quarantine and restrictions of personal liberty
As requested here are the AMA links to help provide guidance in such circumstances:
- AMA Code of Medical Ethics: Guidance in a Pandemic provides physicians institutions responding to COVID-19.
- COVID-19 Ethics Resource Center contains a collection of peer reviewed articles from the AMA Journal of Ethics.
- COVID-19 podcast includes physician experts discussing resource scarcity and medical worker obligations during pandemics.
