Public Health Ethics are different from Medical Ethics because Public Health Ethics goal is to address what is best for a group or population; whereas, medical ethics addresses what is good for the individual. The concept of Public Health Ethics is new because “it argues that when dealing with ethical issues related to research or interventions, the health of groups and populations should be considered and not only that of individuals” as in the case of Medical Ethics (Callreus, 2013, p. 157). However, there is another group that argues a different point. The opposing side argues that the benefits for the group shouldn’t be the only consideration and developed “criteria for deciding when freedoms should be usurped for public health” (Keane, …show more content…
For example, nursing and doctors both have a code of ethics some parts similar but other part of their code is distinctively different. The reason is because of their employment (doctors tend to have special contractual agreements with hospitals and nurses are employees of hospitals). However, historically the “ethical principles [were] focused on autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence, and justice”(Ivanov & Oden, 2013, p. 232). This historical start still stands in parts today as a part of the “decision making in health care specifically public health”(p. …show more content…
Knowing that the decision that is made in either case is grounded in ethical principles that offer guidance to quality healthcare that is evidence based. In addition to protecting the group, through ethical and sound decision making as is the case of avoiding conflict of interest and by only providing education and services that protect the health of all. Although, the “intellectual energy devoted to the ethics of Public Health has been scant compared with that spent on clinical [Medical] ethics” (Leeder, 2004, p. 434). This is important when making a comparison between the two.
Reference
Callréus, T. (2013). Pharmacovigilance and Public Health Ethics. Pharmaceutical Medicine - New Zealand, 27(3), 157-164. doi:10.1007/s40290-013-0016-4
Center for Disease Control and prevention CDC. (2015). Public Health Issues. Retreived. October 21, 2015, from http://www.cdc.gov/od/science/integrity/phethics/
Keane, M. (2010). Public health interventions need to meet the same standards of medical ethics as individual health interventions. American Journal Of Bioethics, 10(3), 36-38 3p. doi:10.1080/15265160903581742
Ivanov, L. L., & Oden, T. L. (2013). Public Health Nursing, Ethics and Human Rights. Public Health Nursing, 30(3), 231-238 8p. doi:10.1111/phn.12022
Leeder, S. R. (2004).
The committees involve individuals from diverse backgrounds who support health care institutions with three major functions: providing clinical ethics consultation, developing and/or revising policies pertaining to clinical ethics and hospital policy and facilitating education about topical issues in clinical ethics. The goals of ethics committees are to promote the rights of patients; to promote shared decision making between patients and their clinicians; to promote fair policies and procedures that maximize the likelihood of achieving good, patient-centered outcomes; and to enhance the ethical environment for health care professionals in health care
In the book “The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks,” Rebecca Skloot identifies a part of the book that talks about a patient’s consent to certain treatments at the Hospital. She specifically talks about how Henrietta was given an informed consent form, which she signed before she was given treatment; However, health consent forms could be argued back and forth in relation to how they worked back then, because with or without them Doctors still experimented on patients without their consents compared to these enlightened days where patients are in complete control of knowing what the doctor does with their bodies. Like Deborah said and if you want to go into history don’t go into it with a premeditated judgment like hate, one just has to understand that it wasn’t the fault of the people but the naivety of those times. A true case of patients where patients were left in the dark about a treatment was the Tuskegee Syphilis experiment where patients were just given a vague explanation to what they were
Throughout time as human population has continued to grow, there is an increasing need for a societal structure that addresses large health concerns as well as maintain infrastructure to provide health related services to the public. In our society today this is known as public health. Public health is the umbrella term for all services, preventions, and promotions of health related factors that directly relate to humans and animals as well as the environment around them. Due to the wide spectrum of responsibilities related to public health, many stories have arisen that directly relate to the abilities and processes that exist under it. The book called The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks directly relates to the ethical aspect of public health.
Some of the resources that can assist employees like Mimi Hall and Gail Newel in executing public health measures in the face of opposition include the APHA Code of Ethics and the Pandemics Ethics Dashboard (Murtagh & Erwin, 2022). The APHA Code of Ethics provides a framework that acts as a guideline for public health professionals in making sound and ethical decisions (Murtagh & Erwin, 2022). It also offers principles and standards that champion the protection and alleviation of public health, and it can be utilized to communicate the essence and the rationale behind specific measures to the public. When professionals reference the APHA Code of Ethics, they showcase commitment to the ethical practice of public health and justify their actions.
(2012). The Ethics of Health Care Reform: Impact on Emergency Medicine. Academic Emergency Medicine, 19(4), 461-468 8p. doi:10.1111/j.1553- 2712.2012.01313.x U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. (2015).
The ethical principle of utilitarianism should be applied. Utilitarianism is maximizing the happiness, good, or moral consequences of one’s decisions and actions. Utilitarianism in healthcare is to produce the greatest good for the greatest number of people (Butts & Rich,
The primary motivation that has led me to pursue an advanced degree in bioethics at Columbia University is the direct applicability the field has to my interests in medicine. Today, the physician needs to contend with an increasingly pluralistic and multicultural society that can create pressure to compel him or her to accommodate patients ' diverse values. Each person and each physician who come together in the medical relationship have expectations, hopes, and needs. Only after these are understood and respected can appropriate technical measures be applied. My decision to apply to Columbia University is based on the belief that this program provides the optimal environment for me to investigate ethics as it pertains to medicine to prepare myself for the ethical requirements of a physician.
Rhetorical Analysis on an Exposia of Nursing Ethics In the essay “ Nursing’s Code of Ethics, Social Ethics, and Social Policy,” Marsha D. Fowler explains the history of Nursing ethics and what should be utilized in today’s society. Fowler explains to her readers what nurses should promote within the healthcare field. The purpose of her essay is to persuade her audience, whom are Nurses or someone who has background knowledge, into taking action. In order to explain the importance of ethics, Fowler uses two primary arguments emphasising, nurses need to have a stronger voice in policy making and they need to follow the code of ethics which was set for them.
All nurses and healthcare professionals are obligated to help patients and to follow through on the desire to good and not harm them. The doctors and nurses in the study did not hold up their obligation to give the participants in the study the best treatment for their disease. Since penicillin was being used for the treatment of penicillin in the 1940s, the doctors and nurses should have given the participants of the study the penicillin according to the ethical principle of beneficence. Instead of giving the participants the penicillin, the doctors and nurses continued with the original ‘treatment’ even though they knew it would not cure the participants’
“The Harm Reduction Dilemma” When dealing with any type of public health practice there are always ethical dilemmas that come into play with certain issues. Ethical dilemmas are unavoidable and challenging when it comes to finding the right approach that pertains to a health issue. Not only are they challenging, but they are also important when it comes to making well researched decisions about medical treatments while taking in consideration of beliefs and wishes of all aspects of health. Even though researched decisions seems to be right for one individual or certain groups doesn’t mean that will be right for others. With this being said I think that the Harm Reduction Dilemma is the most challenging in actual public health practice.
( Harvard Medical School, 2015). Ethical considerations and self-integrity guides our parts to improving human health.
The practice of health care includes many scenarios that have to do with making adequate decisions when it comes to a patient’s life, and the way they are treated. Having an ethical code in all health care organizations is very important, because it helps health care workers with reaching a suited and ethical decision when it comes to the patient. In health care, patient will always be put first, and their autonomy will always be respected. Nevertheless, when there is a situation where a patient might be in harm, or might be making their condition worse because of the decisions they made. Health care workers will always be there to
Ethical Issues in Healthcare There are many ethical issues facing health care at any time and it is impossible to say definitively which is the most pressing or the most important. Health care professionals are expected to base their practice on a set of ethical principles, including truthfulness, beneficence, nonmaleficence, justice, and confidentiality. Ethical issues can arise, however, when a l professional is called upon to act in opposition to personal values or in cases where the values of patient, health care worker, and sponsoring institution conflict. The following issues are presented in no order. Neonatal Ethics Neonates are babies within their first twenty-eight days of life.
Schachter 1 There are many opinions throughout the world that some medical research and/or procedures are unethical, inhumane or against the morals of some on behalf of religion or other personal obligation. Bioethics, as defined by the Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, is “the subfield of ethics that concerns the ethical issues arising in medicine and from advances in biological science” (Brock, para1). There are a wide array of issues that concern people regarding bioethics. Some issues that are more in the spot light are Abortion, Cloning and Euthanasia.
There are questions of autonomy, individual rights, coercion, justice, multicultural values, the common good and the norms of research. Different types of political and moral theory overlap with one another in public health practice such as libertarianism, egalitarianism, utilitarianism, human rights framework and communitarianism. Libertarianism upholds liberty as its principal objective, maximizing autonomy and freedom of choice, voluntary association based on individual judgment whereas egalitarianism favors equality for all. Utilitarianism aims to maximize utility by maximizing total benefit and reducing suffering. Communitarianism emphasizes that a person's individuality is the product of community relationships, rather than a product derived only from personal