Strong emotional responses of health-care professionals to the unusual stress of providing care during the COVID-19 pandemic may be consistent with the experience of moral injury. This term, originally used to explain the feelings of guilt, shame, and righteous anger resulting from trauma experienced by US soldiers who felt betrayed by their leaders in combat, has recently been applied to the experiences of health-care workers who know the right thing to do but lack the autonomy, latitude, or authority to do it. Ancient Greek tragedy, which often explores stories about moral challenges, can provide a fruitful context for communicating about this kind of traumatic experience. Sophocles’ Philoctetes is particularly relevant for health care since it describes the psychological pain of a would-be caregiver who is ordered by a superior to deny care to someone suffering with chronic pain, providing a clear example of betrayal through failed leadership and lack of authority to do the right thing. A more detailed reading of Sophocles’ Philoctetes demonstrates that it also describes the kind of moral distress that results from being forced to respond to an unsolvable ethical dilemma when there is no clear right thing to do or when doing the right thing requires violating personal moral values.

在 COVID-19 大流行期间，医疗保健专业人员对提供护理的异常压力的强烈情绪反应可能与道德伤害的经历一致。这个术语最初用于解释美国士兵在战斗中感到被领导人背叛而遭受创伤而产生的内疚、羞耻和正义的愤怒，最近被应用于知道正确事情的医护人员的经历做，但缺乏做这件事的自主权、自由度或权威。古希腊悲剧经常探索有关道德挑战的故事，可以为交流这种创伤经历提供富有成效的背景。索福克勒斯的菲洛克忒忒斯与医疗保健特别相关，因为它描述了一个潜在的照顾者的心理痛苦，他被上级命令拒绝照顾患有慢性疼痛的人，提供了一个明显的例子，表明由于领导失败和缺乏权力而背叛正确的事。对索福克勒斯的Philoctetes的更详细阅读表明，它还描述了在没有明确的正确事情可做或当做正确的事情需要违反个人道德价值观时，被迫对无法解决的道德困境做出反应而导致的那种道德困扰.