The Ethics Of Public Health

In health and social care, four key Ethical Principles that are taken into account during these settings. Which are:

Anurva Patel Assignment 3: Article Critique 3 PH-715 Date: 6 July 2015 This response is on an article written by Matthew K. Wynia of American Medical Association. The title of the paper is “Ethics and Public Health Emergencies: Restrictions on Liberty”, 2007. This paper was published in The American Journal of Bioethics, Volume 7(2), pages 1-5 in 2007.

This paper will breakdown the difference between clinical and institutional ethics. How this can cause conflict between healthcare and society. Thus, providing an example of how healthcare professionals can be conflicted when trying to provide the best quality care or a compassionate treatment outcome.

Ethical Issues in Health Abortion Abortion is one of the most polarising moral issues in today’s society. It presents an ethical dilemma for many people and especially all healthcare professionals involved. Firstly, this essay will begin by briefly outlining the highly controversial issue of abortion, discuss why this topic draws fierce debate, for and against, and explain the current legal standing in the UK today. It will then move on to explain how different ethical models can be used in relation to ethical dilemmas, in particular Thiroux’s Five Principles of Ethic’s. Using this model to discuss how each principle individually applies to this contested issue it will then conclude by summarising and highlighting the main conflicts

If you were to compare the AMA code of medical ethics to the APHA code of public health ethics, there most definitely would be conflicts. As mentioned, medical ethics looks at the individual and public health ethics deals with the population. One example of this conflict could be in AIDS testing. The individual's right to privacy and confidentiality must be maintained, while the need for public health, such as notifying their partners to prevent further spreading of the disease (Williams & Torrens, 2008).

July-August 2012 • Vol. 21/No. 4 Ethical Challenges in the Era of Health Care Reform TABLE 1. Views of Liberal Egalitarians vs. Libertarians and Free-Market Advocates Liberal Egalitarians Libertarians and Free-Market Advocates Health care is a fundamental good and access to this good Role of government is confined to protecting the freedom of all

As a rational human beings, we should consider the possible consequences of not everyone has the access of health care, and by universalize of health care, we should agree it is acceptable to give everyone equal access to health care. We have the moral obligation of live to our fullest potential, in addition, it is within our right to inquire what is necessary to achieve a healthy life. To say you cannot live as a healthy individual is contradictory to the moral principle, for the reason that you should not deny someone’s right to live to their

Sometimes it is necessary to divulge the patient information especially in cases that involve communicable diseases. In such cases, it is necessary for the public to be informed to manage the spread of such diseases. The decisions are made without consultation with the patient. Proponents of patient autonomy argue that the patient should have full control of all decisions made surrounding his health especially in circumstances where the welfare of other individuals is not as stake. However, to achieve the best, a balance is necessary between the autonomy of the individual and the public health interests of the society (Suhonen 2011).The administration is another important issue as pertains to healthcare management. The issue has raised ethical controversy over the years. Administration involves activities such as organization, staffing, budgeting, accountability and coordination. Most of the issues relating to administration are overlooked most of the times yet they have ethical consequences on the health system. One of the issues about administration is equity and accountability (Brody 2010). Spending scarce resources on useless medical acts is seen as a violation of the public health act. It is ethically wrong to compromise on the health of the public for selfish individual interests. Accountability also entails fair and equitable distribution of the

Teamwork- It has been found that relying too heavily on health information technology (IT) for communication can reduce teamwork (Yoder-Wise, 2011, p. 215). With the availability of information on the internet and computer software, nurses do not need to rely on co-workers or physicians for information. According to Yoder-Wise (2011), IT “will never eliminate the need for personal communication and teamwork” (p. 215).

These frameworks view ethics as a way each person seeks his or her good. The Australian charter of Health Care Rights clearly states that everyone can receive services from health care. As mentioned earlier, consent gives the patient a certain degree of freedom. The UDHR preamble clearly points out that all members of the human family have the right to freedom therefore this argument clearly states that patients have the freedom to consent or not. The ethical person engages in what may be described as either deliberative reason or rational reason this means that the patient will decide to do what is good depending on his reasoning, because he will achieve goodness. This argument is clearly supported by Article 19 of the UDHR that states, “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” Furthermore, in medical research, potential subjects have the freedom to refuse being involved in the experiments. This means that even when the involved subjects are given enough information about the procedure and consent to participate, they are free to withdraw consent as stated by the Helsinki Declaration (2008). Therefore in order for the health professionals to gain consent, they must disclose all facts underlying the medical intervention to enable them understand, deliberate, reason and decide

Ethics is a strongly culturally linked area of philosophy interrelated with what is considered acceptable human conduct. There are two branches of ethics; medical ethics and bioethics. The moral conduct and principles which govern practices of medical and health professionals falls under medical ethics, whereas in biomedicine and the health sciences theorised developments in the study of social and moral issues is considered bioethics(1). There are two philosophical principles within the conduction of health care research these are deontology and utilitarianism. Deontology is an approach to ethics that focuses on the rightness or wrongness of actions themselves, as opposed to the rightness or wrongness of the consequences of those actions (2). Utilitarianism states that the most benefit

With the implementation of the Affordable Health Care Act; the role of the Federal government has taken a strong stance on ensuring that every American has health care coverage. The delivery of health care and public policy-making consists of several structures which directs the implementation of medical treatment and it's fairness. But what about the effects of Bio-ethical issues in the delivery of health care? Health care administrators are constantly faced with these type ethical issues in the medical setting; who gets the best medication available, how will it be divided? What is done about physicians not performing ethically? Patient's who are terminally ill, seek care from physicians whom they trust and believe. " The ethics of 'principlism' is common, wherein there are four guiding principles: justice, autonomy, beneficence and non-maleficence (Bioethicsorgau, 2016)." In conclusion, there is an absolute must that there be policies and laws in place to ensure that health care is delivered appropriately and in all fairness without

problems in health care framework (?). For instance, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) explains that everybody has the right to be free, equal in dignity and rights and equity in using health services (?). Similarly, World Health Organisation describes the highest plausible level of health for all peoples. It also prioritises individual’s mental, social and physical wellbeing (WHO, 1946). By evaluating national health care ethics, The Australian Charter of Health Care Rights describes the rights of clients and other entities using the Australian health system. In addition, the Charter allows clients, family and health care, providing services to work jointly for a safe and superior health system for the best plausible outcomes

Law and Ethics in Health Introduction Ethics and as sometimes called morals is the concept of what is right or wrong or what one is supposed to do or not do. Health practitioners are guided by ethical principles to help them make informed decisions. There are various Ethical theories that can be applied in different situations. Consequentialism theory helps to know the consequence of any action taken by a health practitioner. Deontology deals with the duties and practices of the doctors or nurses. Health workers that tend to adhere so much on this theory may have conflicts with other individuals at work. Virtue theory deals with the morals of an individual. Principlism theory requires that the health practitioners adhere to the communal, religious and person believes of the patient.

Ethics in Public health involves identification, analysis, and resolving of ethical problems springing up in Public health practice. Ethical principles that govern public health practice are mainly expected to increase benefit and reduce harm unnecessarily to participating individuals. There are some ethical principles and guidelines which have been developed to safeguard and protect the dignity and rights of people. The ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects by Helsinki, (1964) states that;