The Last of Us Finale: Ambiguous Violence and Bioethical Analysis.

The season finale of HBO’s The Last of Us has raised a bioethics question: Is it ethical to kill one person for the well-being of many others? Arthur Caplan, head of the division of medical ethics at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, discusses the role of Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) in decision-making during an apocalypse, the importance of sound scientific protocol, and the moral implications of sacrificing one life to save many. He also reflects on the performance of institutions during the Covid-19 pandemic and their ability to handle future scenarios, from pandemic to apocalyptic.