PLoS Medicine
(Accessed 31 January 2015)
http://www.plosmedicine.org/

Supporting Those Who Go to Fight Ebola
Michelle M. Mello, Maria W. Merritt, Scott D. Halpern
Editorial | published 26 Jan 2015 | PLOS Medicine 10.1371/journal.pmed.1001781
…Conclusion
Given the opportunities for HCPs to care for patients in desperate need and help avert global harm, the consistency of such service with HCPs’ professional ethics and AMCs’ missions, and institutions’ ability to manage risks attributable to HCPs’ temporary absence and return to work, health care institutions should routinely support willing and qualified HCPs’ service in West Africa. At a minimum, institutions should not impede employees from fulfilling their perceived professional duties to help the sick and, thereby, to do their part in responding to a global public health emergency. This means refraining from adverse action against those who choose to travel, arranging for others to provide the services the travelers normally render, and not imposing restrictions that exceed CDC recommendations for returning travelers.

Ideally, institutions would go further and actively promote HCPs’ service by enabling them to go as employees and preserving the full net of support and protection this status confers in the US, including travel insurance, worker’s compensation coverage, and pay. Such institutions would also assume liability for harms to third parties, although these situations would likely be rare.

Finally, institutions could fulfill their ethical responsibilities to contribute to the fight against Ebola in different ways. Some hospitals might step forward as primary centers of care for Ebola patients domestically while others focus on facilitating HCPs services’ abroad. However institutions choose to address these responsibilities, it is heartening that there are HCPs who wish to provide care in West Africa. This heroism is remarkable and reflects a deep humanitarian instinct. It calls for validation, not discouragement, by health care institutions.