Access to Health Care and Adherence to Health Care Guidelines in a Pandemic: Two Independent Concepts

Authors

  • Emmanuelle Marceau Cégep du Vieux Montréal; Département de médecine sociale et préventive, École de santé publique de l’Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada; https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6162-7585
  • Marie-Alexia Masella Programmes de bioéthique, École de santé publique de l’Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7202/1087212ar

Keywords:

public health compliance, pandemic, COVID-19, triage, access to care

Language(s):

French

Abstract

In the United States, bioethicist Arthur L. Caplan, along with three colleagues, stated in a paper published in the PennLive Patriot-News in May 2020 that anyone with COVID-19 who has not followed public health guidelines regarding mask use or social distancing, or who is responsible for a COVID-19 outbreak, should volunteer to be treated last. They do this based on the principle of the philosopher John Stuart Mill that the expression of freedom cannot cause harm to others. While one can understand the arguments raised by Caplan and his colleagues, this position cannot be applied in the Quebec context, for philosophical (ethical) and public health reasons.

(c) Han Han Li

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Published

2022-03-01

How to Cite

[1]
Marceau E, Masella M-A. Access to Health Care and Adherence to Health Care Guidelines in a Pandemic: Two Independent Concepts. Can. J. Bioeth 2022;5:132-7. https://doi.org/10.7202/1087212ar.

Issue

Vol. 5 No. 1 (2022): Open Issue

Section

Critical commentaries

License

Copyright (c) 2022 Emmanuelle Marceau, Marie-Alexia Masella

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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