J Bioethic Inq
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This paper examines the role of bioethics in the successful control of COVID-19 in New Zealand. After the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus episode in Toronto researchers developed a framework of values and principles to articulate values that were already commonly accepted "in the community of its intended users," to be used to inform decision-making. ⋯ These formed the basis of the New Zealand response to COVID-19. This paper illustrates the ways in which the bioethical framework was reflected in the decisions and actions made by the government.
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Various models have been used to "emplot" our collective experience of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the epidemiological curve, threshold models, and narrative. Drawing on a threshold model that was designed to frame resource-allocation decisions in clinical care, I offer an ethical justification for taking caring responsibilities into consideration in such decisions during pandemics. My basic argument is that we should prioritize the survival of patients with caring responsibilities for similar reasons we should prioritize the survival of healthcare professionals. More generally, the pandemic reveals the fundamental importance of informal care and affords an opportunity to raise questions of justice relating to it.
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This essay discusses hope and optimism with reference to current rhetoric around COVID-19. It draws on Spinoza to suggest that much of that rhetoric rests on questionable assumptions about the supremacy of human reason within Nature.
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This article presents a short reflection on the confluence between politics and pandemics as they are reflected in Israel in March and April 2020.
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In today's pandemic, many countries have experienced shortages of medical resources and many healthcare providers have often been faced with dramatic decisions about how to allocate beds, intensive care, or ventilators. Despite recognizing the need for triage, responses are not the same everywhere, and opinions and practices differ around what guidelines should be used, how they should be implemented, and who should ultimately decide. To some extent, triage issues reflect community values, revealing a given society's moral standards and ideals. Our goal is to study two countries which share many common features-Italy and France-as they deal with the pandemic, revealing the moral organization of medicine and healthcare, the power structures, and the nature of the disruptions in each context.