A policy and decision-making framework for South African doctors during the COVID-19 pandemic

K Jones-Bonofiglio; N Nortjé

doi:10.7196/SAMJ.2020.v110i7.14822

In Practice

A policy and decision-making framework for South African doctors during the COVID-19 pandemic

K Jones-Bonofiglio, N Nortjé

Abstract

Faced with a pandemic, doctors around the world are forced to make difficult ethical decisions about clinical, economic and politically charged issues in medicine and healthcare, with little time or resources for support. A decision-making framework is suggested to guide policy and clinical practice to support the needs of healthcare workers, help to allocate scarce resources equitably and promote communication among stakeholders, while drawing on South African doctors’ knowledge, culture and experience.

Authors' affiliations

K Jones-Bonofiglio, Lakehead University Centre for Health Care Ethics, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada; Bioethics Unit, International Network of the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics (Haifa)

N Nortjé, Lakehead University Centre for Health Care Ethics, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada; Critical Care and Respiratory Care/Section of Integrated Ethics in Cancer Care, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA; Professor Extraordinaire, Department of Dietetics, Faculty of Community and Health Sciences, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town,South Africa