scholarly journals Applying a Public Health Ethics Framework to Consider Scaled-Up Verbal Autopsy and Verbal Autopsy with Immediate Disclosure of Cause of Death in Rural Nepal

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 293-310
Author(s):  
Joanna Morrison ◽  
Edward Fottrell ◽  
Bharat Budhatokhi ◽  
Jon Bird ◽  
Machhindra Basnet ◽  
...  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Thomas ◽  
Lisa S Parker ◽  
Saul Shiffman

Abstract Much evidence suggests e-cigarettes are substantially less harmful than combustible cigarettes. Assuming this is true, we analyze the ethical case for a policy of e-cigarette availability (ECA) as a tobacco harm reduction strategy. ECA involves making e-cigarettes available to allow smokers to switch to them, and informing smokers of the lower risks of e-cigarettes vis-à-vis smoking. After suggesting that utilitarian/consequentialist considerations do not provide an adequate ethical analysis, we analyze ECA using two other ethical frameworks. First, ECA is supported by a public health ethics framework. ECA is a population-level intervention consistent with respecting individual autonomy by using the least restrictive means to accomplish public health goals, and it supports equity and justice. Second, ECA is supported by four principles that form a biomedical ethics framework. By reducing smokers’ health risks and not harming them, ECA fulfills principles of beneficence and non-maleficence. Because ECA allows smokers to make informed health decisions for themselves, it fulfills the principle requiring respect for persons and their autonomy. Here, we consider whether nicotine addiction and thus ECA undermine autonomy, and also discuss the ethical warrant for special protections for youth. Finally, ECA can also advance justice by providing a harm reduction alternative for disadvantaged groups that disproportionately bear the devastating consequences of smoking. Policies of differential taxation of cigarettes and e-cigarettes can facilitate adoption of less harmful alternatives by those economically disadvantaged. We conclude that public health and biomedical ethics frameworks are mutually reinforcing and supportive of ECA as a tobacco harm reduction strategy. Implications Making e-cigarettes and information about them available is supported as ethical from multiple ethical perspectives.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric T. Juengst ◽  
Annelies Van Rie

AbstractInfectious disease control is experiencing a paradigm shift, as pathogen sequencing technologies and digital applications are increasingly implemented for control of diseases such as tuberculosis, Ebola, and COVID-19. A new ethical framework should be a critical part of this emerging paradigm to ensure that the benefit of precision public health interventions based on advances in genomics research is not outweighed by the risks they pose to individuals, families, and vulnerable segments of the population. We suggest that the ethical framework guiding practice in this domain combines standard precepts from public health ethics with emerging ethics principles from precision medicine.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (7) ◽  
pp. 114-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Yat-Nork Chung ◽  
Alexandre Erler ◽  
Hon-Lam Li ◽  
Derrick Au

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 643-648
Author(s):  
Silvia Camporesi

AbstractIn this paper I discuss the ethical justifiability of the limitation of freedom of movement, in particular of the ban on running outdoors, enforced in Italy as a response to the COVID-19 outbreak in the spring of 2020. I argue that through the lens of public health ethics literature, the ban on running falls short of the criterion of proportionality that public health ethics scholars and international guidelines for the ethical management of infectious disease outbreak recommend for any measure that restricts essential individual freedoms, such as the freedom of movement. The public health ethics framework, however, falls short of explaining the widespread public support that the running ban has had in Italy. I discuss possible factors which could explain the public support for the ban in Italy. Finally, I raise the question of what societal implications the abandonment of the public health ethics framework based on proportionality might have. I conclude that if it is the case, as the history of pandemics teaches us, we will experience further waves of COVID-19 outbreaks, it becomes very important to raise these questions now, with an eye towards informing public health policies for the management of future COVID-19 outbreaks. This discussion should not become politicized along the lines of liberal pro-lockdown/conservative anti-lockdown. Instead, we should reflect on the trade-offs of lockdown policies according to a pluralist framework, in which COVID-19 related deaths are not the only possible value to pursue.


Author(s):  
AC Lundgren ◽  
HR Etheredge

The current COVID-19 pandemic may require a shift in our ethical thinking – away from the widely endorsed framework of patientcentred care towards “public health ethics”. At its core, public health ethics works towards the welfare of a majority in society, and as such, it is not usually applied to individual patients, but rather to a collective (for instance, society as a whole). This may call on us to redirect our efforts away from tirelessly promoting the autonomy of individual patients, towards the welfare of patients as a collective. During COVID-19, this confers a duty not only to existing patients under our care, but also to patients who may present with COVID-19.


Author(s):  
David B. Resnik

This chapter provides an overview of the ethics of environmental health, and it introduces five chapters in the related section of The Oxford Handbook of Public Health Ethics. A wide range of ethical issues arises in managing the relationship between human health and the environment, including regulation of toxic substances, air and water pollution, waste management, agriculture, the built environment, occupational health, energy production and use, environmental justice, population control, and climate change. The values at stake in environmental health ethics include those usually mentioned in ethical debates in biomedicine and public health, such as autonomy, social utility, and justice, as well as values that address environmental concerns, such as animal welfare, stewardship of biological resources, and sustainability. Environmental health ethics, therefore, stands at the crossroads of several disciplines, including public health ethics, environmental ethics, biomedical ethics, and business ethics.


Author(s):  
Adnan A. Hyder

This chapter briefly introduces ethics issues in injury prevention and control in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), using a series of examples that prompt attention to the ethical principles of autonomy and justice. The chapter also introduces the section of The Oxford Handbook of Public Health Ethics dedicated to an examination of injury and public health ethics, with attention given to the complex ethical challenges arising in injury prevention and control in LMICs. The section’s two chapters discuss public health ethics issues arising in the prevention and control of unintentional injuries and intentional injuries, respectively. Those chapters define a set of ethics issues within international injury work and provide an initial analysis of the nature of those ethics issues, their specificity, and potential pathways for addressing them.


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
A Buron Pust ◽  
A Segura

Abstract Background Public Health Ethics (PHE) has been taught first as optional and later as a mandatory subject in the Master of Public Health in Barcelona for about 6 years. During these years, professors have adapted the methodology to make it more attractive and to maximize students' participation and time spent debating and practicing moral reasoning. Objectives To showcase 3 different teaching strategies or methods, presenting for each of them: resources required, outcomes so far in terms of satisfaction and exam performance, as well as the pros and cons from the teacher's perspective. Results Flipped-classroom strategy: theoretical content is delivered outside the classroom, and the practice into the classroom. Works well but needs incentives for compliance in reading. Versatile debating Methods: from parliamentary debate, to role-playing, online debate, etc. Depending on the Case-study, some work better than others; in the online they practice written deliberation skills, but it is important to set rules. MOOC: Massive Online Open Courses in PHE. Can be used as independent teaching material, it is a great tool to introduce PHE into other PH areas and non-teaching environments. Conclusions So far, these methods have proven to increase students' motivation and engagement in Public Health Ethics. Key messages Practising reflection and debating skills is an essential part of PHE. Modern teaching strategies, more interactive and online-based, can help maximising the time spent in these activities. Although challenging and time-consuming at first, these methods also increase students' interest in PHE.


2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 324-337
Author(s):  
Neil D. Shortland ◽  
Nicholas Evans ◽  
John Colautti

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