Before it is over: A family’s experience with end-of-life care during COVID-related restrictive visitation policies

It is not uncommon in the American medical community that a personal narrative sparks a conversation about a controversial topic. In 1988 the Journal of American Medical Association published a narrative by a medical doctor which provoked a debate on euthanasia within the readership of the journal and the greater public. The testimony that I am presenting aims to invite a public dialogue on the harmful effects of restrictive visitation policies brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The story of my family’s experience during the end-of-life care for my mother, a COVID patient, illustrates how urgent is the need to rethink the restrictive visitation policies so as to protect patients from unnecessary suffering. In order to battle pandemic-related stress and fatigue medical staff and families must work together to improve patient care. © The Author(s), 2022.

Crises as catalyst: a new social contract grounded in worker rights. (Special Issue: Health rights and the urgency of the climate crisis.)

Three crises-climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, and extreme economic and social inequality- intersect and have had devastating impacts on workers' rights to health, as well as the right to decent work, an underlying determinant of health. Yet these crises may act as catalysts, as responses present opportunities for transformation. Indeed, multiple international governance institutions and nongovernmental organizations have proposed new social contracts that aim to address the multiple challenges facing workers today. These initiatives promise to transform society to make workers and their families healthier and the planet more sustainable. They join and supplement earlier efforts at transformation, such as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This article critiques (1) the market-fundamentalist neoliberal social contract, which gave rise to, or exacerbated, the three crises, and (2) the 2030 agenda and recent International Labour Organization proposals, which are all built on this neoliberal platform. Finally, the article argues for a social contract that is grounded in human rights-specifically worker rights-to address these crises and ensure greater protection of the health.