Health workers are not soldiers
May 08, 2020
3 minutes
By Elliot Ackerman and Dr. Allan S. Detsky
The risks physicians, nurses and other health care workers face, by reusing masks and gowns, resemble the risks soldiers faced over 15 years ago when patrolling Iraq in unarmored vehicles. A shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) is one of the defining characteristics of the COVID-19 pandemic, a crisis many compare to a war.
However, an ethical danger exists in the overly simplistic language comparing our fight against COVID-19 to a war, and equating doctors and nurses with soldiers.
Unlike soldiers,
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