Legal and Ethical Considerations for Zombie Outbreak Management

ZOMBIE OUTBREAK 1
Legal and Ethical Considerations; A Summary of a Zombie Outbreak.
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ZOMBIE OUTBREAK 2
Zombies are very aggressive and the zombie virus (Solanum virus) is biologically
infectious and universally fatal (Smith, 2015). Considering one of the mode of transmission as
bites from the infected person, the epidemic raises many ethical and legal considerations in the
emergency department (ED).
The first ethical consideration that arises is the expenses involved in the control of the
outbreak. Zombies deplete resources within no time and they can run over a city or a town in a
few days or week (Smith, 2015). As seen from the 2004 infection in London, military action was
the only choice and that becomes an ethical issue when the officers have to shoot to kill the
zombie to save his own life. Zombies are a risk to the extermination of humans. Zombies also
have minimal chances of survival that makes them of no economic use as they will eventually
die. However, ethics protect life as it is not moral to take life from someone.
The nurses need to be alert when attending to people affected by the Solanum virus. In
most cases, nurses bear the maximum risk when performing both primary and secondary
interventions for zombies (Stanley, 2012). In the emergency department for example, zombies
should be separated from other patients and nurses in the ED department should be in the best
protective gears to prevent contamination to self.
Other ethical issues to be considered are whether zombies have rights, intrinsic value, or
needs, whether zombies affect international justice, whether they should be controlled by the
government or civilians (free markets), whether they are sustainable, or whether there should be
care accorded to them (Psychology Today, 2018). As an emergency nurse, before making any
decision to terminate them, the above-mentioned factors should be considered.
Despite the risks associated with Zombie management, health providers including
emergency nurses are legally bound to provide safe care to all (NMBA, 2016). However, there is