In the second series of Inside the Ethics Committee, Vivienne Parry returns to discuss real life medical cases with a panel of experts who sit on clinical ethics committees.
Pandemic influenza swept across the globe three times last century, with the last outbreak in 1968.
It's estimated that the next wave could infect one in four people in the UK and cause 55,000 deaths. Although in worst case scenarios this rises to over half a million.
This week the panel discusses the tough ethical issues we'll face when pandemic flu hits the UK.
Ethical issues
- Should we close UK borders and restrict people's liberty to try and stop the virus spreading?
- Would it be better to use precious stocks of antivirals for prevention or treatment?
- Should hospital staff be forced to come into work, even if they are putting their families at risk?
- With three to five people needing every hospital bed, how should clinicians decide who gets treatment?
The panel
- Dr Kerry Bowman, Clinical Ethicist at Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto - Dr Andrew Hartle, Consultant Anaesthetist on the Intensive Treatment Unit at St Mary's Hospital, London - Prof Robert Dingwall, Director of the Institute of the Study of Genetics, Biorisks and Society at Nottingham University
