Clinics (Sao Paulo). 2020;75:e2154.

Bioethical principles and values during pandemics

Chin An Lin , Henrique Grunspun , Janice Caron Nazareth , Reinaldo Ayer de Oliveira

DOI: 10.6061/clinics/2020/e2154

INTRODUCTION

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is the greatest threat to public health today. The disease arose at a time when it was widely believed that humankind had only one last frontier to conquer in public health—to master techniques for the definitive treatment of genetic and hereditary diseases, as well as neoplasms and degenerative diseases. The emergence of a new infectious disease, caused by a virus previously believed to be harmless to human beings, generated a global crisis and caused the medical scientific community to thoroughly review existing concepts concerning prevention, epidemiology, and treatment ().

The crisis caused by COVID-19 not only affected individuals’ health, but also exposed a need for reflection on social and cultural habits, the means of economic production, public administration policies, and government functioning, amongst other important issues (,,). It highlighted a crisis of values, demanding a review of medical activity priorities, research investments, and financing in health science, as well as the gap between individual and collective health. In addition to compromising health and threatening survival at both the individual and collective levels, this crisis raised questions about our current approaches to the environment and sustainability.

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