The COVID Ethics Series

An ongoing virtual conversation addressing the complex ethical issues of a pandemic.

by NIYALA SHAW, BA

ASeton Hall bioethics expert is leading the discussion on COVID-19-related ethics and practices. Through his thought-provoking program, aptly named The COVID Ethics Series, Bryan Pilkington, PhD, takes a fine look at critical, moral and ethical implications of COVID-19 on our society and challenges examination of those issues and their profound impact on the present and future.

What began as a call between colleagues across the three schools at the Interprofessional Health Sciences (IHS) Campus — the School of Health and Medical Sciences, College of Nursing, and Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine — as well as the Department of Philosophy has become an initiative that fosters engagement among brilliant and diverse minds lasting the duration of the coronavirus pandemic. Pilkington describes the efforts as a “multidisciplinary series focused on ethical issues that have arisen or intensified in light of the COVID pandemic.” The introductory call that spurred the series into action addressed how healthcare practitioners balance concerns for personal and familial health and safety with their duty to care for patients.

On March 31st, just 20 days after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic and one week after the initial call, The COVID Ethics Series went public with its second session bringing together educators, philosophers, economists, political scientists/ theorists and medical doctors to address the ensuing pandemic. The subsequent talk, titled “Today and Tomorrow: Prioritizing the Present in the Time of COVID-19,” fostered an interprofessional discussion about the long-lasting effects of the pandemic on socioeconomics, healthcare resources, mental and emotional well-being. Pilkington and his colleagues urge us to consider whether our public health systems are sustainable under the weight of this catastrophic event — a thread that persists through each episode in the series.

Following this session, the conversation on pandemic ethics quickly expanded to topics of sports and recreation, best practices, maternal health, discrimination and education. With limitations placed on recreation and group gathering, as well as travel bans, social distancing and stay-at-home orders implemented, many have been left wondering how they can reconsider their daily practices and identify some semblance of normalcy until the pandemic ends. Upon further study and discussion throughout the series, participants have been called on to evaluate the current systems and practices in place as well as the everchanging communications surrounding the pandemic, and to understand where these areas fall short, identifying the dangerous effects these shortcomings have on our society. Listeners are also encouraged to realize their place in it all and examine the many positive contributions they can make. To that end, the fourth episode saw an expansion of the participants to include student panelists from the three IHS Campus schools to discuss the creative ways they are contributing to research, advocacy and relief aid during this time.

In the subsequent episodes, panelists zero in on issues faced by members of often marginalized and vulnerable populations such as pregnant women, children, and migrant and minority communities. In particular, the series’ seventh installment “Vulnerability and Dependence in the Time of COVID-19,” addresses ethical issues and challenges many vulnerable and dependent communities encounter because of inequalities within our society. The panel of experts highlights individuals in nursing homes and long-term care settings, persons of color, low-income populations, immigrant populations, homeless populations and essential service workers. They identify just a few barriers to surviving COVID-19 such as translation services, testing availability, care coordination and access to education which existed well before the current crisis began. As a collective we are tasked with addressing these disparities and working toward solutions.

Two weeks after the seventh installment, the nation faced an outbreak of social injustice