University Hospital Leipzig on November 18, 2021 in Leipzig, Germany. Hospitals are coping with a high influx of patients as the fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic is sending infection rates to new record highs in Germany. Saxony is especially hard hit, with an average of over 750 new cases per 100,000 over a seven-day period, the highest for any state nationwide. Germany's vaccination rate, currently at about 67% of the population, is low compared to many other EU countries.
“We figured our study would show the same thing, so we were really surprised when we found that COVID-19 was so different than all these other outbreaks,” Grisel added. Around 75% of the articles staunchly advocated for every doctor’s obligation to treat patients. However, Covid-19 had the highest number of articles stating that it is ethically acceptable for doctors to refuse treatment. Meanwhile, only 13.3% of the 187 articles said doctors refusing to treat patients with HIV was acceptable.