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The COVID-19 pandemic has ushered ethics to the forefront of both medical education and public discourse. In addition to illuminating persistent moral questions about fairness, access to healthcare, and citizens'responsibilities to one another's well-being, the pandemic emerged within the context of profound social divisions and disagreements regarding core values. This book explores subjects that have been accorded less attention, such as the implications of surveillance, the moral dimensions of conspiracy theories, and the moral distress and injury that have led many healthcare professionals to rethink their vocation. Each chapter of the volume presents the background and research surrounding specific moral dilemmas, e.g., school closures, rationing, privacy, and surveillance. These issues are subsequently examined within the context of various ethical models, including utilitarianism, deontology, virtue ethics, moral foundations theory, principlism, Rawls's theory of justice, and communitarianism. The book will be beneficial to students of health professions, philosophy, bioethics, and for those who value informed citizenship.

Internationally, marginalized populations, including indigenous people, refugees fleeing both war and the effects of climate change and people-of-color, have borne a disproportionate share of serious COVID 19 illnesses and deaths. Each contributor has a background in public health, applied psychology, and international issues, bringing a unique perspective and a valuable lens through which to view these issues. Additionally, the authors are members of the COVID-19 Ethics and Legal Issues Task Force within Division 52 (International Psychology) of the American Psychological Association. The task force has spent the last two years describing how COVID-19 has highlighted pre-existing health disparities within the U.S. and internationally. The topics investigated include strategies to manage the pandemic employed by governments in various countries as well as models of medical ethics guiding healthcare decision-making.

This book provides an up-to-date description of cross-cultural aspects of end-of-life decision-making. The work places this discussion in the context of developments in the United States such as the emphasis on patient informed consent, “right to die” legal cases, and the federal Patient Self-Determination Act. With the globalization of health care and increased immigration from developing to developed countries, health care professionals are experiencing unique challenges in communicating with seriously ill patients and their families about treatment options as well as counselling all patients about advance medical care planning. While many Western countries emphasize individual autonomy and patient-centered decision-making, cultures with a greater collectivist orientation have, historically, often protected patients from negative health information and emphasized family-centered decision-making. In order to place these issues in context, the history of informed consent in medicineis reviewed. Additionally, cross-cultural issues in health care decision-making are analysed from the perspective of multiple philosophical theories including deontology, utilitarianism, virtues, principlism, and communitarian ethics. This book is a valuable addition to courses on end-of-life care, death and dying, cross-cultural health, medical anthropology, and medical ethics and an indispensable guide for healthcare workers dealing with patients coming from various cultural backgrounds.