Synopses & Reviews
Disaster strikes: In 2004 it was the Indian Ocean tsunami; 2005, Hurricane Katrina; 2010, the earthquake in Haiti and floods in Pakistan; and this year? According to the International Disasters Database, almost 2800 disasters occurred between 2000 and 2005, compared to approximately 2700 during all of the 1990s. The number of people impacted by disasters tripled between 1990 and 2003. In that year, more than 250 million people were directly affected by a disaster. Disasters cause immense pain and suffering, along with widespread death and destruction. They require an immediate response, but those responses raise ethical questions. How do doctors and nurses decide whom to care for? What care do the victims need first? How do international agencies decide what to send? What ethical responsibilities do the media bear? Is research justified during a disaster? If so, how will research ethics standards be maintained? Such ethical questions need urgent and extensive discussion. This book provides in-depth and practical reflection on these and other challenging ethical questions. It presents the deliberations of scholars and practitioners who gathered at the Brocher Center in Geneva, Switzerland in 2011 and formulated the Brocher Principles of Disaster Bioethics. This book offers their findings to guide those concerned about responding ethically to the healthcare needs of disaster victims.
Synopsis
This book provides an early exploration of the new field of disaster bioethics:
examining the ethical issues raised by disasters. Healthcare ethics issues are addressed in the first part of this book. Large-scale casualties lead to decisions about who to treat and who to leave behind, cultural challenges, and communication ethics. The second part focuses on disaster research ethics.
With the growing awareness of the need for evidence to guide disaster preparedness and response, more research is being conducted in disasters. Any research involving humans raises ethical questions and requires appropriate regulation and oversight. The authors explore how disaster research can take account of survivors? vulnerability, informed consent, the sudden onset of disasters, and other ethical issues. Both parts examine ethical challenges where seeking to do good, harm can be done. Faced with overwhelming needs and scarce resources, no good solution may be apparent. But choosing the less wrong option can have a high price. In addition, what might seem right at home may not be seen to be right elsewhere. This book provides in-depth and practical reflection on these and other challenging ethical questions arising during disasters.
Scholars and practitioners who gathered at the Brocher Foundation in Geneva, Switzerland in 2011 offer their reflections to promote further dialogue so that those devastated by disasters are respected by being treated in the most ethically soun
d ways possible.
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Synopsis
This book explores a range of ethical questions in disaster response, including, among others: How do medical responders decide whom to care for? How do international agencies decide what to send? What are the ethical responsibilities of the media?
Table of Contents
Part 1. Ethical issues in providing healthcare during disasters Evidence and healthcare needs during disasters Macro-triage in disaster planning Micro-triage in the midst of disasters Preparing and taking care of the carers Media coverage of disaster healthcare When relief comes from a different culture Part 2. Ethical issues in disaster research Setting disaster research priorities Proportionality of harms and benefits Caring for disaster researchers Approval mechanisms for disaster research Consent and respecting participants' rights in disaster research Respecting dignity in undignifying circumstances Afterword Bibliography of selected titles Subject and/or Name Index The Brocher Principles of Disaster Bioethics