Resuscitating Patient Rights during the Pandemic: COVID-19 and the Risk of Resurgent Paternalism.

The COVID-19 Pandemic a stress test for clinical medicine and medical ethics, with a confluence over questions of the proportionality of resuscitation. Drawing upon his experience as a clinical ethicist during the surge in New York City during the Spring of 2020, the author considers how attitudes regarding resuscitation have evolved since the inception of do-not-resuscitate (DNR) orders decades ago. Sharing a personal narrative about a DNR quandry he encountered as a medical intern, the author considers the balance of patient rights versus clinical discretion, warning about the risk of resurgent physician paternalism dressed up in the guise of a public health crisis.

Citation

Joseph J Fins. Resuscitating Patient Rights during the Pandemic: COVID-19 and the Risk of Resurgent Paternalism. Cambridge quarterly of healthcare ethics : CQ : the international journal of healthcare ethics committees. 2021 Apr;30(2):215-221

Mesh Tags

PMID: 32576307

search → result