Invited Commentary

Excerpt

Caring for the sick has always involved a risk of illness for the caregiver. Our willingness to accept this risk accounts in part for the high level of respect accorded the profession. Individual doctors do not have a legal duty to treat someone who is not their patient except in an emergency that requires their intervention to prevent injury or damage or when they are engaged as employees of public hospitals or agencies. Collectively, doctors have an implicit contract with society to provide medical care. Legislation authorizing professional self-regulation implies a requirement that doctors collectively provide needed medical care to the community. The physician’s duty to provide care when faced with personal risk is generally viewed as voluntary, constrained only by collegial and societal expectations of virtuous behavior [1]. Professional organizations such as the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and the American College of Surgeons specify in policy statements that members are expected to provide care to patients with communicable diseases such as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and hepatitis. Exemplary experienced personnel, well disciplined routines, and standardized precautions provide protection and role models for residents confronted by the moral quandary of assuming personal risk to help the patient infected with potentially lethal viruses. …