Call of Duty - What are Physicians' Obligations During Crises?

Background: Society allows physicians the privilege and responsibility of caring for patients. Those responsibilities demand that their knowledge and technical expertise meet standards defined and policed by their colleagues, through medical societies or governmental entities. However, the fiduciary duty that patients' interests are held above those of the physicians' is an ethical precept that is tested when society is under threat.

Discussion: Disasters that stress society are a constant and can present themselves in a myriad of ways to include medical, meteorological, or political. Minimizing the potential damage to the quality and quantity of life of the population is dependent upon public safety personnel and health care professionals who may put their health and safety in harm's way to care for patients. These acts may be taken for granted or assumed to be part of the professional obligations of physicians and other health care workers who work at the bedside. The obligations of physicians to their patients and society may differ from those not in the medical field, and the level of risk deemed acceptable by the physician and by society should be clearly delineated.

Conclusion: Despite the conflict between normative and descriptive ethics, in times of disaster, physicians must respond to the call of duty. This duty is contingent on the responsibility being shared with governmental agencies and health care facilities, to mitigate the risks borne by those who answer the call.