Epidemic: Ethical and Social Issues
There are many ethical and social issues involved when an epidemic occurs, and it is important that they are dealt with professionally and properly. One big social issue has to do with the healthcare workers themselves and the obligations that they have with light to their own safety. Throughout the beginning of the movie there was nothing that could be done to help patients with the MEV-1 disease. However they were still treated for symptoms by healthy workers. This is an issue because healthy workers are being put at risk for no reason whatsoever but you don’t want to just leave people to die with no support whatsoever. The next social issue is that of priority to healthcare. During an epidemic, medical supplies can become very scarce. This brings up the issue of who gets treated and who doesn’t. How does one decide who lives and who dies? How will the vaccine be distributed and who will get it first? These are key questions that must be asked. There are also several ethical issues that come about when there is an epidemic. These can include imposing a curfew on citizens and limiting travel around the country/world. These are basic human rights that all people have. During an epidemic, these rights may have to be revoked in order to help stop disease. People will not be happy and riots and looting may come as a result of it. As soon as food becomes scarce, people will begin to hoard and steal from others. Overall an epidemic itself is already a terrible situations but combined with the many ethical and social issues that come with it, they can devastate large populations of people.