Balancing the Duty to Treat Patients with Ebola Virus Disease with the Risks to Dialysis Personnel

• Published in: Clinical journal of the American Society of Nephrology Vol. 10; no. 12; pp. 2263 - 2267
• Main Author: Evans, Nicholas G
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Society of Nephrology 07-12-2015
• Subjects: Attitude of Health Personnel; Codes of Ethics; Conflict of Interest; Delivery of Health Care - ethics; Dialysis - adverse effects; Dialysis - ethics; Disease Outbreaks - ethics; Disease Outbreaks - prevention & control; Emergency Medical Services - ethics; Ethics Series; Health Personnel - ethics; Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola - diagnosis; Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola - therapy; Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola - transmission; Humans; Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional - ethics; Moral Obligations; Occupational Exposure - adverse effects; Occupational Exposure - ethics; Occupational Health - ethics; Professional Role; Risk Assessment; Risk Factors; duty to treat; professional ethics; Ebola virus disease
• ISSN: 1555-9041; 1555-905X
• DOI: 10.2215/CJN.03730415

In 2014, the author was invited to present at the American Society for Nephrology's annual conference in Philadelphia on the ethics of treating patients with Ebola virus disease. The argument was made that the status of health care workers, including nephrologists, was the dominant ethical standard that generated both the duty to treat and the conflicts between this commitment and other ethical commitments that arise in public health emergencies. Conflicts between duty to treat and personal safety, duty to community, and duty to colleagues were illustrated, and suggestions for designing ethics into medical practice were given. This article is a summary of that presentation.