Moral Dilemmas for Health Care Professionals during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Different aspects of moral distress for health care providers during the Covid-19 pandemic will be addressed and moral deliberation to relieve moral distress is discussed. The case illustrates many of the dilemma’s health care workers in obstetrics and gynecology faced during the first wave of the pandemic. Some of these dilemmas are still actual three years later. The following topics are discussed and presented: lack of protective material and fear of catching covid themselves, extra workload due to increase demand for care, colleagues ill with Covid-19 and disruption of normal routines, fear of infecting vulnerable loved ones with covid versus not being able to take care of these loved ones as usual and increased anxiety and stress levels, decreased wellbeing and work satisfaction and therefore decreased quality of life. These dilemmas illustrate the extra-ordinary moral distress that health care providers have faced during the Covid-19 pandemic. To relieve moral distress, a regular and continuing conversation on moral dilemmas where health care providers can share their anxiety and worries together is warranted. One of the instruments for this conversation is moral case deliberation.