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Many people serving in the healthcare and public safety sectors during the COVID-19 pandemic may be at risk of moral injury. That is, they may do, fail to prevent, or witness actions that violate their own moral beliefs or standards, or they may experience a sense of betrayal when they feel not adequately supported by organizations that have an obligation to do so. Reports out of Italy have already emerged, pointing towards the dire ethical choices faced by Italian physicians: e.g., should a young man in his thirties with an unclear cancer prognosis or otherwise healthy woman in her sixties receive access to the last remaining ventilator. How do our administrators and government leaders make decisions (e.g., who is redeployed to the ICU and who is redeployed to a relatively safer hospital unit? How are scarce resources distributed?) that may mean the difference between life and death for front-line personnel? Risk and resilience factors for moral injury among public safety personnel and healthcare workers will be discussed.
April 23, 2020.
Presented by:
Margaret C. McKinnon, PhD, Clinical Psychologist
Homewood Chair in Mental Health and Trauma
Professor and Associate Chair, Research, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences
McMaster University
Ruth Lanius, MD, PhD, FRCPC
Harris Woodman Chair, Professor of Psychiatry
University of Western Ontario