Swine Flu Threats Loom, as Do Ethical Dilemmas
Jul 20th, 2009 • Posted in: NewsIn Britain, doctors ponder their moral duties; in developing worlds, there’s concern that rich nations will gobble up scarce vaccine; fear of pandemic spurs Internet scams; Thai newspaper questions decision to pare back frequency of flu updates
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Health experts say that swine flu is poised to make a comeback — along with a parade of ethical dilemmas.
The BBC notes that with outbreaks soaring in Britain, anxious patients are flocking to the offices of general practitioners, who comprise the medical front lines in the battle against the disease. In response, the government has asked GP offices to designate a “pandemic flu lead,” a member of the practice who will be responsible for dealing with flu patients.
Not surprisingly, notes medical ethicist Daniel Sokol, writing on the BBC website, few have jumped at the offer. In addition to the added responsibility, many dread the prospect of rationing potentially scarce vaccines and worry about increased exposure to the virus.
Sokol points out that the request for a “flu lead” itself poses ethical issues. Is it ethical to ask one doctor to bear an additional risk and burden? What about physicians who have young children at home or frail elderly parents? Should duty of care to patients trump duty of care to loved ones?
“If the strength of our competing duties is morally important,” Sokol writes, “a single doctor with no children may have a greater obligation to be the flu lead than a married doctor with three young children.
“Yet, how would this work in practice? Is a six-year-old daughter ‘worth more’ than a five-year-old daughter? Is a 90-year-old parent worth more than a toddler? Is a girlfriend of 10 years worth less than a wife of five years?” Sokol asks.
With flu cases erupting across Europe, the U.K. Guardian reports, a race among nations to secure vaccines has begun. World Health Organization director general Margaret Chan warns that poor nations will suffer as wealthy nations stockpile vaccines.
In Canada and the United States, there’s a new wrinkle to swine flu dilemmas: Internet scams involving websites that sell phony cures, reports the CanWest News Service.
And in Thailand, there’s an ethics debate over how much information to release on the spread of the flu, according to the Bangkok Post. Like health authorities in many nations, officials in Thailand have cut back on the frequency of public updates and projections because the volatile nature of outbreaks often produces inaccurate, conflicting, and alarming reports.
In an editorial, the Post argues that “with the same life-threatening health crisis hanging over us all, the Thai people certainly deserve to be fully informed in a straightforward and unhindered manner”
Sources: CanWest News Service, July 17 — Bangkok Post, July 17 — Guardian, July 17 — BBC, July 6.
For more information, see: Related Newsline story, July 6 — Related Newsline story, May 4 — Related Newsline story, Apr. 27 — Related Newsline story, Feb. 9 — Related Newsline story, Feb. 5, 2007.
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