ISSN: 2691-5774
Authors: Hoffman DP*
A Texas hospital reports their back is against the wall and they may be sending some patients home to die. Hospitals in many areas report staffing shortages due to the pandemic. Many other providers report stressed out workers, patients and family members. I reviewed several lay press pieces regarding the pandemic in the past few days, conspicuous by its absence was any mention of the four principles of medical ethics first outlined in 1985 by Beauchamp and Childress. These thoughtful philosophers saw an opportunity in the wake of ethical horror stories like the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiments and the work of the Nazis under Josef Mengele (just as examples) to outline concepts we should all regard as primary in our approach to others-especially in the provision of healthcare and the conduct of research. The principled approach calls on us all to focus on a balance of four basic concepts beginning with the individual and wrapping up with society in general.
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