Death, Pandemic, and Intersectionality: What the Failures in an End-of-Life Case Can Teach About Structural Injustice and COVID-19

Abstract:

In this paper, I highlight the ethical challenges presented by a contentious end-of-life case, that of Jahi McMath in 2013, to show how similar issues of racism, ableism, and structural injustice have manifested on a much larger scale during the current COVID-19 pandemic. What happened to McMath was not a one-off failure of US health care. Rather, the kinds of injustice that McMath and her family suffered reflect a broader failure to address racism, bias against those with disabilities, and structural injustice generally. In this moment of global pandemic, it would behoove bioethicists to become much more intentional about addressing these forms of injustice so that there is greater equity in times of crisis that may arise in the future.