- A number of doctors and medical institutions in the US
are denying care to those unvaccinated
against COVID-19, even if they have
life-threatening conditions.
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: So some doctors are saying
they'll refuse treatment for people
who choose not to get the shot.
- I understand people are free to choose,
but to me, it's a problem when it affects other people.
ALYSSA BURGART: My name is Dr. Alyssa Burgart,
and I am a bioethicist and anesthesiologist
at Stanford University.
When we talk about clinicians denying treatment to people who
are unvaccinated, I think there's a false understanding
that somehow, as a community, we have already done absolutely
everything that we can to ensure people have access
to vaccination and have access to accurate
information about vaccination, and that's just not true.
And so for me, it's really challenging
when I hear someone say, well, I don't
want to treat people who are unvaccinated, because they
should have known better.
It's like, well, not necessarily.
I think that, as a community, former President
Trump was vaccinated in secret.
You know, when you think about that and the power of that
over an entire community, it's really important
to recognize that the narratives about vaccination
and about the safety of vaccination
have been very politicized.
JONATHAN MORENO: Jonathan Moreno,
I'm professor of bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania.
I think there's a fundamental misunderstanding when health
care professionals decline to engage
in practices that will enable them comfortably
to take care of patients.
I believe it is part of the obligation of health care
professionals to, in this case, to either accept vaccination
or to report to work with appropriate
personal protective equipment.
I do think, though, that also that doctors and nurses have
a responsibility to communicate to the public
to their patients, and the patients'
families, and patients' friends, you know, what is appropriate.
And what is appropriate right now is for them to seek
the benefits of vaccination.
ALYSSA BURGART: Sometimes something feels right,
but actually is morally misguided.
And so when I hear a clinician saying, well, I'm just--
I'm angry at all these people who haven't been vaccinated,
and I don't want to take care of them, well to me,
what that says is that we need to reassess
what is our role as caregivers.
JONATHAN MORENO: If we get into a situation in which you can
pick and choose who you want to care for,
the profession breaks down.
The foundations of medicine required doctors
to take care of patients.
If they stop doing that, then we have really no profession.