What major ethical problems would confront health care providers?
At the onset of an influenza pandemic, providers would face a very personal ethical decision about their duty to serve contagious patients verses the ways that concerns for personal safety play into duties to their own families and others to whom they have responsibility. While most health care workers would probably rush to a crisis as a function of their professionalism, some would not (perhaps especially if they have doubts about their institution’s pandemic plan), yet virtually all would surely be aware of the ethical and emotional significance of the decision. The most glaring ethical decisions, however, would be those of how to treat overwhelming numbers of patients with scarce and diminishing medical resources. Two shortages would likely stand out: antiviral drugs and mechanical ventilators. These potentially life-saving treatments would have to be allocated to fewer than the number of patients who would need them, and that fundamental fact poses a number of ethical questions. T
