Art Caplan Reflects on “Abysmal” U.S. Leadership Through COVID-19 Pandemic

Medical ethicist Art Caplan joined Boston Public Radio on Thursday, where he lambasted the Trump administration’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which he called “the single most important issue of his presidency." 

Caplan noted that while the U.S. makes up only four percent of the world’s population, it accounts for a fifth of all global COVID-19 deaths. 

“That’s inexcusable,” he said, placing responsibility on the president and his administration for "not managing to keep our death rate down.”

"We have no federal policy – he left it up to the states, which allowed the virus to find a home in certain parts of the country, and kick back. So it really has been abysmal leadership.”

Caplan is the Drs. William F and Virginia Connolly Mitty Chair, and director of the Division of Medical Ethics at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine.