Ethics and SARS: lessons from Toronto
Ethics and SARS: lessons from Toronto
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DOI：
10.1136/bmj.327.7427.1342
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发表时间：
2003-12-06
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
Shaul, RZ
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Singer, PA;Benatar, SR;Shaul, RZ
今年早些时候，严重急性呼吸系统综合症（SARS）在多伦多地区爆发，迫使医疗和政府工作人员做出艰难的选择，往往是在信息有限、期限短的情况下。医疗服务提供者站在前线，也是受这种疾病影响最大的人群。决策者必须权衡个人自由与公共利益，个人安全的担忧与治疗病人的责任，经济损失与控制致命疾病传播的需要。这种决定必须以科学知识和伦理考虑为指导。SARS的爆发表明，加拿大社会还没有为处理伦理问题做好充分的准备。
The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in the Toronto area earlier this year forced medical and government workers to make hard choices, often with limited information and short deadlines. Healthcare providers were on the firing line, and were the people most affected by the disease. 1 Decision makers had to balance individual freedoms against the common good, fear for personal safety against the duty to treat sick people, and economic losses against the need to contain the spread of a deadly disease. Such decisions have to be guided by both scientific knowledge and ethical considerations. The SARS outbreak showed that Canadian society was not fully prepared to deal with the ethical issues.