COVID-19: Ethical Considerations for Audiologists and Speech-Language Pathologists

Many ASHA members are calling with questions, as almost all types of service delivery are changing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Donna Euben, ASHA’s ethics director, along with our practices teams, pulled together some of the most frequently asked ethics-related questions during this unprecedented time. Read her answers to these questions, which also include links to numerous resources. Plan for providing uninterrupted services.  I’m an audiologist at an outpatient/inpatient hospital clinic. Am I at risk of client abandonment if I refuse to treat patients to minimize my exposure to the virus that causes COVID-19? Audiologists and speech-language pathologists are ethically obliged not to abandon a client. However, this obligation isn’t absolute. ASHA’s Issues in Ethics statement on client abandonment states, “no clinician is ever ethically required to work … in physical danger in order to offer client care.” Guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that employees who fall into the following three categories may be temporarily excluded from “direct patient-care responsibilities for suspected and known positive COVID-19 patients”: pregnant women (and women who are breastfeeding), immunocompromised employees, and employees 65 years and older. If you fall into one of the three “temporarily excluded” employee categories, there is a strong basis to assert the hospital is putting you in “physical danger” by...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Tags: Academia & Research Audiology Health Care Private Practice Schools Slider Speech-Language Pathology COVID-19 Professional Development Technology Telepractice Source Type: blogs