ETHICAL DILEMMAS IN THE DOCTOR–PATIENT RELATIONSHIP IN A POST-PANDEMIC CONTEXT: A LITERATURE REVIEW

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly reconfigured the doctor–patient relationship, bringing to the fore ethical dilemmas related to informed consent in conditions of uncertainty, the balance between individual well-being and public health, resource allocation, confidentiality in telemedicine, and the risk of structural discrimination. This literature review critically examines the transformations in the role and moral responsibility of physicians after 2020 through the lens of the main bioethical frameworks (principlism, physician–patient relational models, virtue ethics, capabilities) and professional guidelines published during and after the crisis. Four areas of tension are analyzed: (2) beneficence/non-maleficence in therapies with limited evidence; (3) distributive justice in resource allocation; (4) confidentiality, privacy, and relationship quality in the virtual environment. The paper argues that, in the post-pandemic stage, medical ethics calls for an "ethics of extended responsibility," which combines traditional standards of the clinical relationship with obligations to the population, deliberative transparency, and digital skills. It proposes directions for ethical education, updating telemedicine guidelines, and participatory risk communication mechanisms.