Professional responsibilities for treatment of patients with Ebola: can a healthcare provider refuse to treat a patient with ebola?

Primum Non-Nocere. First do no harm. This is the first rule of medicine, reminding us of our duty to protect our patients and to ensure that our procedures and treatments never worsen a patient’s condition. But what if the healthcare provider is at risk of harm from the patient? May a licensed healthcare provider refuse to treat a patient? A patient, say, with Ebola? The recent emergence of Ebola in West Africa begs the question, and indeed, as a recent op-ed in the Washington Post brought to light, Susan Grant, Chief Nurse Executive of Emory Healthcare, was roundly criticized for “bringing patients” with Ebola to Emory University Hospital for treatment.1 (Presumably, the underlying concern of Ms. Grant’s critics, who “responded viscerally on social media,” was rooted in Ebola’s high case fatality – as high as 90%.2 Indeed, the entire affair was highly reminiscent of the emergence of AIDS some thirty years ago.)