Infection control, subjective estimates, and the ethics of testing during the COVID-19 pandemic
On March 16, 2020, the Director-General of the World Health Organization said: “We have a simple message to all countries—test, test, test.” This seems like sound advice, but what if limiting the number of tests has a positive effect on infection control? Although this may rarely be the case, the po...
| VerfasserInnen: | ; |
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| Medienart: | Elektronisch Aufsatz |
| Sprache: | Englisch |
| Verfügbarkeit prüfen: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Veröffentlicht: |
Wiley-Blackwell
2023
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| In: |
Bioethics
Jahr: 2023, Band: 37, Heft: 9, Seiten: 897-903 |
| RelBib Classification: | NCD Politische Ethik NCH Medizinische Ethik TK Neueste Zeit |
| weitere Schlagwörter: | B
Deontology
B right to know B infection control B COVID-19 testing B Consequentialism |
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| Zusammenfassung: | On March 16, 2020, the Director-General of the World Health Organization said: “We have a simple message to all countries—test, test, test.” This seems like sound advice, but what if limiting the number of tests has a positive effect on infection control? Although this may rarely be the case, the possibility raises an important ethical question that is closely related to a central tension between deontological and consequentialist approaches to ethics. In this paper, we first argue that early during the COVID-19 pandemic, Japan offers an interesting case because it experienced few deaths due to COVID while the number of tests was limited, suggesting that there may be cases in which low testing contributes to infection control indeed. After that, we examine deontological constraints on such a “low-testing” policy, focusing on issues related to a supposed “right to know,” which is a central issue in medical ethics in general. |
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| ISSN: | 1467-8519 |
| Enthält: | Enthalten in: Bioethics
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1111/bioe.13229 |