Medical ethic debate over doctors refusing to treat the unvaccinated

Medical ethicists criticize doctors refusing to treat the unvaccinated As the Delta variant of COVID-19 rips across the country, a growing number of health care professionals have taken an extreme stance that they claim will slow the spread: They say they will no longer treat the unvaccinated. While the basic premise of their decision may be legal, much of the medical profession is guided by ethics, and many experts disagree with the reasoning behind this decision. Marquise Francis YahooNews

Linda Marraccini, a family medicine doctor in South Miami, Fla., is tired of patients who refuse to get vaccinated, endangering themselves and everyone they come into contact with ⁠— so she gave them an ultimatum: Get vaccinated or find another primary care physician. Marraccini sent out a letter to her patients last month, informing them that since the Food and Drug Administration had fully approved the Pfizer vaccine, she would no longer see those who were not fully vaccinated.

“This is a public health emergency — the health of the public takes priority over the rights of any given individual in this situation,” Marraccini wrote in the letter, according to NBC Miami. “It appears that there is a lack of selflessness and concern for the burden on the health and well-being of our society from our encounters.”

Marraccini is not alone. In the past month, as the Delta variant of COVID-19 has ripped across the country, an Alabama doctor also said he won’t treat unvaccinated adults.

That decision has caused backlash within the medical profession, with many critics saying doctors should not pick and choose who they treat.

“We have to find ways to take care of people, even if we don’t agree with their actions,” Dr. Jonathan Moreno, a professor of medical ethics at University of Pennsylvania, told Yahoo News. ...