Issues 200-176

Issue 181: Sass, Hans-Martin : Ethische Risiken und Prioritäten bei Pandemien. October 2009

Ethicists have been reluctant to analyze and to discuss risks and priorities associated with big catastrophes. A severe and deadly pandemic can develop any time naturally or be brought about by bioterror or biological warfare. Hans-Martin Sass uses the case of a deadly flu pandemic to discuss different scenarios in pandemics and their ethical, technical, cultural, legal and political challenges for the community of states and for each and every citizen personally. He differentiates between a severe epidemic similar to the one in 1918, a pandemic with a mortality rate of up to 20%, a severe pandemic with mortality rates up to 50% and a worst case scenario of 50% deaths. Each scenario has different medical, ethical, political and societal risks and priorities. As particularly in situations of bioterror or biological warfare early warning time will be limited, he calls for an actual ethical debate now.