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You haven't mentioned if she is a single mother. But if so, I think her first duty is to her children. As for the hospital not having PPE, it is their first responsibility to protect their staff. You can't save the patients if all the staff are out sick.
No, she isn’t.
But her concern seems to center more on infecting the kids rather than leaving them motherless.
Given that Covid is relatively benign to kids,I’m not sure I’d worry about that as much as leaving them motherless.
I would think she could also ask to be transferred to a unit that isn’t dealing with infectious disease.
Job as nurse during a medical crisis or a mother keeping her offspring safe?
Ask the nearest lion or bear (or any member of the animal kingdom). They will do anything to protect the offspring. Wouldn't even be a conscious choice. It would be instinct.
Job as nurse during a medical crisis or a mother keeping her offspring safe?
Is your question really specific to mothers? Or are you just saying "mothers" because your example involves a mother? How about fathers on the front lines of this pandemic? Do they get a pass to stay home with their kids? Is that somehow different? Why? ...and discuss. If the father is a doctor is he more obligated to be with patients because a doctor's role trumps the role of a nurse? Or is that irrelevant?
Is your question really specific to mothers? Or are you just saying "mothers" because your example involves a mother? How about fathers on the front lines of this pandemic? Do they get a pass to stay home with their kids? Is that somehow different? Why? ...and discuss. If the father is a doctor is he more obligated to be with patients because a doctor's role trumps the role of a nurse? Or is that irrelevant?
I’m saying mother because it’s a specific situation.
If either parent can’t do their job without infecting their young children should they continue doing the job or put their kids ahead of the job?
Whereas I greatly admire ALL medical personnel and truly consider them to be heroes, in my opinion, a mother's first duty is always to her children.
Wait a minute! So you're ok with her breaching her duty as her kids' economic support by quitting her job, to stay home with her kids? How much sense does that make? She's in a no-win situation.
How about the employer's duty to provide safety gear for the staff? Maybe the ACLU could take on a class-action lawsuit against the negligent hospital directors.
(Ruthie's Rules of the Game: if there's no Door #3, throw a stick of dynamite at the wall, and make your own door.)
She should discuss her concerns with the hospital management. If they are unsympathetic, she can go to a higher authority: the state agency that oversees hospitals and clinics, or the governor's office.
The last thing a hospital needs is a reputation that they're putting their frontline staff at risk of infection.
Wait a minute! So you're ok with her breaching her duty to be her kids' economic support by quitting her job, to stay home with her kids?
In this situation there is a husband and father who works.
The primary conflict is whether she as a nurse has a moral obligation to stay on the unit treating the infectious disease without adequate protection where she is convinced she will contract the disease inevitably and in turn infect her young kids.
No, she isn’t.
But her concern seems to center more on infecting the kids rather than leaving them motherless.
Given that Covid is relatively benign to kids,I’m not sure I’d worry about that as much as leaving them motherless.
I would think she could also ask to be transferred to a unit that isn’t dealing with infectious disease.
Oh, great. So then, everyone would ask to be transferred to a non-covid department. Then the management would come back with "only single parents have the option to transfer out". So then what? Only childless adults and parents which a spouse to cover for them, should they die, would be left in the ER's and ICU's?
In this situation there is a husband and father who works.
The primary conflict is whether she as a nurse has a moral obligation to stay on the unit treating the infectious disease without adequate protection where she is convinced she will contract the disease inevitably and in turn infect her young kids.
Nurse Conflicted should organize her fellow nurses to go on strike to demand adequate protective gear from hospital management. On the picket line, she'll be safe from the patients, eliminating the dilemma. With her group, she should also consult a lawyer about suing their employer for unsafe work environment and negligence.
How about the employer's duty to provide safety gear for the staff? Maybe the ACLU could take on a class-action lawsuit against the negligent hospital directors.
Hospitals and state/local governments are desperate for protective equipment for their staff but there is none to be had. Have you not been reading about the shortages of masks and gowns across the country? How staff are having to wear masks for multiple days when they would normally be discarded between each patient? It's not hospital directors who are negligent. I'm amazed more doctors, nurses, techs, and other staff are not walking off the job. They didn't sign up to die from poor planning.
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