title: Ethical issues in the response to Ebola virus disease in United States emergency departments: a position paper of the American College of Emergency Physicians, the Emergency Nurses Association, and the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine.
abstract: The 2014 outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in West Africa has presented a significant public health crisis to the international health community and challenged U.S. emergency departments (EDs) to prepare for patients with a disease of exceeding rarity in developed nations. With the presentation of patients with Ebola to U.S. acute care facilities, ethical questions have been raised in both the press and medical literature as to how U.S. EDs, emergency physicians (EPs), emergency nurses, and other stakeholders in the health care system should approach the current epidemic and its potential for spread in the domestic environment. To address these concerns, the American College of Emergency Physicians, the Emergency Nurses Association, and the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine developed this joint position paper to provide guidance to U.S. EPs, emergency nurses, and other stakeholders in the health care system on how to approach the ethical dilemmas posed by the outbreak of EVD. This paper will address areas of immediate and potential ethical concern to U.S. EDs in how they approach preparation for and management of potential patients with EVD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Allegheny Health Network, Pittsburgh, PA.
authors.forename: Arvind
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Venkat
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Albany Medical Center, Albany, NY.
authors.forename: Shellie L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Asher
authors.affiliation: Institute of Emergency Nursing Research, Des Plaines, IL.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wolf
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA.
authors.forename: Joel M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Geiderman
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Boonshoft School of Medicine, Wright State University, Dayton, OH.
authors.forename: Catherine A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Marco
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Boston Medical Center, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA.
authors.forename: Jolion
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: McGreevy
authors.affiliation: Center for Bioethics and Medical Humanities (Institute for Health and Society), Milwaukee, WI.|Department of Emergency Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI.
authors.forename: Arthur R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Derse
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH.
authors.forename: Edward J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Otten
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Christiana Care Health System, Wilmington, DE.
authors.forename: John E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Jesus
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH.
authors.forename: Natalie P
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: Kreitzer
authors.affiliation: Institute for Quality, Safety and Injury Prevention, Des Plaines, IL.
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Escalante
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI.
authors.forename: Adam C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Levine
mesh_terms: D001675:Bioethics; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000941:ethics*; D004635:Emergency Medicine; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000941:ethics*; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D004993:Ethics, Nursing; D019142:Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D012955:Societies, Medical / Q000941:ethics; D012956:Societies, Nursing / Q000941:ethics; D014481:United States