The experts in their labyrinth. A reflection on the ethics in pandemic times

Abstract

Experts or opinion leaders in the biomedical field have become enormously relevant in times of the COVID-19 epidemic. Its influence in the particular circumstances of this pandemic raises in a pressing way the possible conflicts of interest that they may have. A conflict of interest is defined by a situation in which the integrity and judgment of a person can be influenced by a secondary interest, and that can divert him from the primary objectives that dictate his action or activity. The issue about conflicts of interest is almost always considered from a utilitarian perspective, that is, how to detect them and avoid their harmful effects. However, in this article we argue the insufficiency of this approach. We defend the need to recover a moral common ground acceptable to all, in this case the Kantian notion of morality and its concept of autonomy. This would allow to immunize against the drifts that conflicts of interests may produce in a society extremely influenced by the mass media and recovering the concept of authority in contrast with the one of simple expert.