Ebola Virus in West Africa: Waiting for the Owl of Minerva

The evolving Ebola epidemic in West Africa is unprecedented in its size and scope, requiring the rapid mobilization of resources. It is too early to determine all of the ethical challenges associated with the outbreak, but these should be monitored closely. Two issues that can be discussed are (1) t...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Upshur, Ross E. G.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer Netherlands 2014
Materias:
Critical Perspectives
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7088741/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25294651
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11673-014-9580-x
Descripción
Sumario:The evolving Ebola epidemic in West Africa is unprecedented in its size and scope, requiring the rapid mobilization of resources. It is too early to determine all of the ethical challenges associated with the outbreak, but these should be monitored closely. Two issues that can be discussed are (1) the decision to implement and evaluate unregistered agents to determine therapeutic or prophylactic safety and efficacy and (2) the justification behind this decision. In this paper, I argue that it is not compassionate use that justifies this decision and suggest three lines of reasoning to support the decision.

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