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Annals of Intensive Care
Published in: Annals of Intensive Care 1/2020

Open Access 01-12-2020 | Triage | Review

Ethical dilemmas due to the Covid-19 pandemic

Authors: René Robert, Nancy Kentish-Barnes, Alexandre Boyer, Alexandra Laurent, Elie Azoulay, Jean Reignier

Published in: Annals of Intensive Care | Issue 1/2020

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Abstract

The devastating pandemic that has stricken the worldwide population induced an unprecedented influx of patients in ICUs, raising ethical concerns not only surrounding triage and withdrawal of life support decisions, but also regarding family visits and quality of end-of-life support. These ingredients are liable to shake up our ethical principles, sharpen our ethical dilemmas, and lead to situations of major caregiver sufferings. Proposals have been made to rationalize triage policies in conjunction with ethical justifications. However, whatever the angle of approach, imbalance between utilitarian and individual ethics leads to unsolvable discomforts that caregivers will need to overcome. With this in mind, we aimed to point out some critical ethical choices with which ICU caregivers have been confronted during the Covid-19 pandemic and to underline their limits. The formalized strategies integrating the relevant tools of ethical reflection were disseminated without deviating from usual practices, leaving to intensivists the ultimate choice of decision.
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Metadata
Title
Ethical dilemmas due to the Covid-19 pandemic
Authors
René Robert
Nancy Kentish-Barnes
Alexandre Boyer
Alexandra Laurent
Elie Azoulay
Jean Reignier
Publication date
01-12-2020
Publisher
Springer International Publishing
Published in
Annals of Intensive Care / Issue 1/2020
Electronic ISSN: 2110-5820
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13613-020-00702-7

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