ETHICAL DILEMMA IN DENTISTRY PRACTICE DURING COVID 19 PANDEMIC
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24193/subbbioethica.2020.03Keywords:
ethics, dentistry, Romania, pandemic, medicine, COVID 19.Abstract
The dental medical services were forced to follow the decisions of the various national governments that declared a state of emergency and consequently the dental offices were closed for long periods. The present theoretical paper focuses on the moral and ethical aspects related to the patients’ access to dental services and to dentists’ activity (from interdiction of practice to re-opening, with strict preventive rules to combat de spread of infection). The article presents the situation of Romanian dentists during the first six weeks of the pandemic, and it analyses the struggles of patients and doctors to access and to provide dental services during COVID 19 pandemic.
REZUMAT. Dilema etică în practica dentară în timpul pandemiei COVID 19. Serviciile medicale dentare au fost nevoite să urmeze deciziile diferitelor guverne naționale care au declarat starea de urgență și, în consecință, cabinetele stomatologice au fost închise pentru perioade lungi de timp. Prezenta lucrare teoretică se concentrează pe aspectele morale și etice legate de accesul pacienților la serviciile stomatologice și la activitatea stomatologilor (de la interdicția practicii până la redeschiderea, cu reguli preventive stricte pentru a combate răspândirea infecției). Articolul prezintă situația medicilor stomatologi români în primele șase săptămâni ale pandemiei și analizează luptele pacienților și medicilor de a accesa și de a oferi servicii stomatologice în timpul pandemiei COVID 19.
Cuvinte cheie: etică, stomatologie, România, pandemie, medicină, COVID 19.
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