Instructions: A Pandemic is not a Game
In the past few years, the world has been rocked by the H1N1 pandemic, the Ebola crisis and the frustrating spread of the Zika virus. All of these events have caused international, national and local health care services to evaluate and plan for mass infection and spread of the disease. This has been challenging on a number of ethical fronts from allocation of scarce resources to communication to restriction of travel and/or civil liberties. Threats of bioterrorism and or germ warfare make the potential ethical dilemmas omnipresent. For this reason, pandemic or mass casualty planning and preparedness is more than an academic exercise, it is a national priority. Clear, transparent and widely communicated ethical thought about these issues is vital to the success of any preparedness plan.
As in previous modules, we will go through the questions as a group, one question at a time. As you join in the discussion, you should read what has already been posted first and then add substantively to what has been written. Treat this as a true conversation about the learning materials.
Time goes quickly, so remember to post early! You must post by Wednesday to receive the full credit for that criteria in the Discussion Rubric. Get in the habit of checking the discussions as often as you can to see what others have posted and to respond. The earlier in the week that you begin posting, the deeper the conversation and learning will be.
*As a reminder, we are discussing sensitive issues and your analysis and responses must reflect articulate informed opinion, rather than a moral reaction. Your objective is not to convince others to change their opinion, but to make sure that your own opinions are understood and supported.*
Part 1
The first question in this discussion is opinion and/or experience-based, so jump right into the discussion immediately. For subsequent questions please meaningfully integrate your readings including the text, articles, and module notes into your posts.
First, let’s start with reflective questions based on your experiences, prior learning, and/or opinion:
Disaster planning requires many hard choices. Are you aware or familiar with the disaster plan of your current or previous employer? Please do not identify your agency by name. Have you ever had to apply that plan in practice?
Part 2
Now applying what you’ve learned from the module notes and readings, let’s go through the rest of the discussion together, one question at a time. I’ll guide us through.
For this discussion you will be responding from the perspective of a bioethics consultant:
The local health dept. has declared your county and state are experiencing a flu epidemic. It is known that during a flu epidemic more people will require ventilation than current agencies can supply. The senior leadership team is struggling with the allocation of is ventilators. Members of the senior leadership include key hospital administrators, physicians, legal counsel, and the director of social work. Recalling the scrutiny that dialysis decisions have historically undergone, the team wants to be fair and also to avoid the bad publicity that will no doubt follow any type of “rationing” decision. After reviewing Case Scenario #23 in the article by Cavanagh, “A pandemic is not a game – and here’s a game to prove it (Links to an external site.),” please respond to the following questions, applying the principles noted in the Kuschner article, “Ethical triage and scarce resource allocation during public health emergencies: tenets and procedures (Links to an external site.).”
How would you allocate the two ventilators?
What ethical principles do you think are the most important?
How should a hospital disaster policy address the ethical principles of justice, beneficence and non-maleficence?
Does the moral virtue of prudence have any place in the resolution of this dilemma?
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