HEALING THE HEART OF MEDICINE: TRUSTING OUR MORAL COMPASS

New Series of articles from the CCCA Ethics and Law Committee
In our introductory article, we spoke about the fact that each of us has a moral compass. In fact, the existence of this moral compass is central in justifying the respect for individual human rights inherent in the various codes of ethics, including those of Canadian and American Medical Associations.
In the event of a medical crisis affecting the health of the population at large, can our moral compass help us to answer this question: To what degree can a government supersede individual human rights, like bodily autonomy, and mandate an individual to accept an intervention to improve the health of that individual or their society?