Ethical considerations for clinicians faced with patients lacking the capacity to form reasoned judgments regarding COVID-19 tests and isolation

Abstract

Dealing with patients suffering severe mental health problems during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have raised several, complex, clinical and ethical questions (1). Such patients may need to be treated within secure facilities where many patients and staff live in close proximity, increasing the risk of disease transmission. In February 2020, in the Daenam hospital in South Korea, an infection cluster was found in the psychiatric ward, with 101/103 patients testing positive (2). In this pandemic’s unprecedented circumstances, psychological pressure on medical staff has been severe (3). Clinical staff have been significantly at risk when dealing with psychiatric inpatients, especially in areas where high infection levels have led to shortfalls in personal protective equipment supply. Several strategies are required to reduce infection risks for psychiatric inpatients and their caregivers. Such strategies may include a comprehensive test program, mask-wearing, and social distancing. However, psychiatric patients would frequently not possess the capacity to make reasoned judgments regarding the refusal of testing or noncompliance with anti-infection protocols. Because of psychiatric illness, such patients may refrain from being tested or following protocols such as mask-wearing or isolation. Thus, clinicians have faced with serious ethical problems when dealing with psychiatric inpatients during this pandemic, in that they must balance the requirements of respecting patient autonomy and allowing them as much freedom of self-determination as is appropriate, against the need to protect the patient from infection and prevent them from infecting others. This commentary aimed at assisting clinicians facing with such ethical dilemmas.