The rapid spread of COVID-19 has had an unprecedented impact on modern health-care systems and has given rise to a number of complex ethical issues. This collection of readings and case studies offers an overview of some of the most pressing of these issues, such as the allocation of ventilators and other scarce resources, the curtailing of standard privacy measures for the sake of public health, and the potential obligations of health-care professionals to continue operating in dangerous work environments.

Meredith Celene Schwartz has taught health-care ethics and philosophy courses at Dalhousie University and Ryerson University. She is the author of Moral Respect, Objectification, and Health Care, co-author of Gestational Trophoblastic Neoplasia, and co-editor of Readings in Health Care Ethics, 3rd Edition.