8 | Medical Ethics During A Pandemic | Tim Lahey

Social Medicine On Air

Tim Lahey (@TimLaheyMD) joins us today to discuss medical ethics during a pandemic and states of emergency, and questions of allocation, ventilator scarcity, and systemic injustice. We also talk about medical education, justice, power and privilege, collaboration towards institutional change, vocation, and the temptations of pride and righteous anger in this work.

This special episode also features SMOA producer Raghav Goyal as a co-host!

Tim Lahey, MD, MMSc, is an infectious diseases physician, ethicist, and professor of medicine who has conducted research on vaccine immunology, Tb, and HIV. He directs ethics at the University of Vermont Medical Center and has participated in ethics and social justice education with medical students for over a decade. Beyond his academic publications, you can read Tim’s stories for the New York Times, Washington Post and other popular outlets here.

His recommended resources include:

• Emanuel, Ezekiel J., et al. 2020. "Fair Allocation Of Scarce Medical Resources In The Time Of Covid-19". New England Journal Of Medicine 382 (21): 2049-2055. doi:10.1056/nejmsb2005114. (Full Text): bit.ly/3mJ3yGl

• Sederstrom, Nneka O. 2020. "Unblinded: Systematic Racism, Institutional Oppression, And Colorblindness". Bioethics.Net. (blog): bit.ly/3iXmoHz

• Toner, Eric, et al. 2020. "Interim Framework For COVID-19 Vaccine Allocation And Distribution In The United States". Johns Hopkins Center For Health Security. (PDF) bit.ly/3hR8XI1