The Mortality Rate for Smallpox
A 27-year-old man is brought into a New York City emergency room with a 101-degree fever, and what he believes is chickenpox (Varicella). After a brief examination, the physician is puzzled because the pox do not appear to be typical of the varicella-zoster virus. Worried, he calls in another physician for her opinion. She takes one look at the patient, determines he has small pox, and immediately orders him to be quarantined. She notifies the CDC and asks them what should be done.
While doing background on the patient, he tells the physicians that he is a flight attendant and that he has flown to several states in the past few weeks while working. Though he is given excellent treatment, and had been in perfect health a few days earlier, the patient dies 7 hours after admittance to the hospital.
The CDC decides that mandatory small pox vaccines will be administered to all workers in the NYC hospital, and to all patients who were in the ER. His co-workers are all given mandatory vaccines as well, as are all people living in his apartment complex. They also ship stored quantities of the vaccine to all of the cities where the man had flown to for work. The vaccines are offered to citizens of these cities. Finally, all people, along with their families who had been on the man’s flights in the weeks preceding the appearance of the disease are forced to receive the vaccine.
- Is it ethical for the CDC to force people to get the vaccine?
- Is it ethical for someone to refuse the vaccine?
- Should citizens begin calling for the mandatory quarantining of people directly exposed to the victim, i.e those living in his apartment complex, those working in the ER, those who flew on the plane in the prior week?
- Today, should health care workers be allowed/forced to get the smallpox vaccine? What about non-health care worker citizens?
Apply Theory (Specific Professional Healthcare Competencies + Clinical Medical Ethical Principles) to Practice in order to provide Optimal Patient-Centered Care (OPCC)
Facts gathered from: http://www.vbs.admin.ch/ls/e/current/fact_sheet/pocken/
