Sunit Das, Terraforming the Ethical Landscape: COVID-19 and the Principle of Justice by C4eRadio: Sounds of Ethics

The four principle approach to medical ethics, balancing prima facie obligations to beneficence, nonmaleficence, autonomy, and justice, has supplied a common language for the application of ethical analysis to medical practice for the last four decades. The frayed edges of this edifice are made visible, however, by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic (and other historical circumstances of severe resource limitation in the healthcare system). Here, Dr. Sunit Das interrogates ethical considerations involved in the state of medical care during the COVID-19 pandemic, as demonstrated by reconsiderations of cancer care, in which the pillar of justice is exposed as internally divided.