Apothecary 2020

also have duties. Our collective health and safety
depends, in any society, on everyone else. Some of these
have been enshrined in the pandemic guidelines from
the government and backed by law. Sometimes these
duties mean we don’t get what we want, or we have to
change how we do things.
So how does this change what I do if I want to visit a
loved one who lives in a residential or nursing home.
The regulations are only part of the picture - they only
tell me what I must or must not do. Working with the
nursing home is important. They know the people who
are their residents and hopefully their vulnerability and
risk. Think about your risk to them and their risk
through you. If you have symptoms of COVID or have
been exposed to it, you may have a duty to stay away.
Think about the risk you bring and the risk you take
away. Can you modify this by not drinking in a
crowded pub in the two weeks prior to the visit, or by
wearing a mask indoors if appropriate even though you
are not obliged to? If the care home has an outbreak, can
you self isolate or reduce contact with others
afterwards? Are there reasons why you should ask for
special dispensation? Time may be an issue when a
loved one is near the end. We cannot undervalue the
power of touch and a friendly familiar face. Many of the
people you meet who run and staff the care homes
will be going through similar moral agonies. What to
allow, how to allow it, how to give some people relief
without denying it to others. We should beware of an
idealised narrative, however. In the real-world stories
are messy. The vast majority of moral decisions are not
taken by ethicists, politicians or doctors but by all of us,
every day.
Andrew Papanikitas is co-editor of BMA awardwinning
The Handbook of Primary Care Ethics (2018)
https://www.routledge.com/Handbook-of-Primary-
Care-Ethics/Papanikitas-Spicer/p/book/9781785230905
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