Abstract
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic placed an extraordinary demand on
health systems and healthcare providers all over the world. The pandemic presented
a number of unprecedented challenging ethical issues. Across the globe, hospitals
are being challenged by a large number of patients presenting to the emergency room
for treatment, creating scarcities of critical care resources, and uncovering the
need for formal crisis standards of care. Difficult life and death decisions, which
may create severe moral distress to the physicians, have to be made in emergency rooms
and intensive care units. Other ethical issues, such as that related to conducting
clinical trials during the pandemic, and the increase in domestic violence during
the quarantine period, will be also discussed.
Keywords
Coronavirus disease 2019 - ethical challenges - medical ethics - scarce resources
