Introduction Public health is an important aspect of human life and there is need for the healthcare practitioners to ensure that they give proper healthcare services to human beings in ensuring their protection. Public health is an art and a science mandated with the responsibility of preventing disease thereby prolonging life of an individual and promotion of the health through different health organizations, societies, public, and private (Aginam, 2005). The major part of public is dealing in the disease prevention rather than curing since the practitioners believe in the core principle that prevention is better than cure. Even though it gives much weight in the prevention, public health also assists in the treatment of various diseases. This paper gives an elaborate discussion of the ethical concerns of public health and their potential barriers. During the discussion, the paper gives an evaluation into the domestic and international policies used in dismantling structural inequalities, impact of politics and potential corruption on the implementation of proper public healthcare services (Gostin & Milbank Memorial Fund, 2002). In addition, it gives an overview of the effects of international law in protecting vulnerable populations, evaluating the resources allocations, ethical considerations, and available strategies for obtaining the necessary data for enhancing the ethical concerns. Ethical Concerns The major categories of ethical concerns in the public health field and provision of the necessary healthcare practices include paternalism, responsibilities, utilitarianism, liberalization, rights, and freedom of the patients in as much as the disease prevention and treatment is concerned. It is important that all thes... ... middle of paper ... ...(2000). Ethics in Public and Community Health. New York: Routledge Publishers. Gostin, L. & Milbank Memorial Fund (2002). Public Health Law and Ethics: A Reader. California: University of California Press. Martin, R. & Johnson, L. (2001). Law and the Public Dimension of Health. United Kingdom: Cavendish Publishing Ltd. Peckham, S. & Hann, A. (2010). Public Health Ethics and Practice. United Kingdom: Policy Press. Public Health Leadership Society (2002). Principles of the Ethical Practice of Public Health. Retrieved on March 2, 2011 from http://www.apha.org/NR/rdonlyres/1CED3CEA-287E-4185-9CBD-BD405FC60856/0/ethicsbrochure.pdf Schneider, M. (2011). Introduction to Public Health (3rd Ed). Ontario: Jones and Bartlett Publishers Usohs.gov (2010). America’s Health Responders: U.S. Public Health Service Corps. Retrieved on March 2, 2011 from http://www.usphs.gov/
Wilson , James G. S., “Rights”, Principles of Health Care Ethics, Second Edition, eds. R.E. Ashcroft, A. Dawson, H. Draper and J.R. McMillan. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 2007. pp. 239.
Denise Dudzinski, PhD, MTS, Helene Starks, PhD, MPH, Nicole White, MD, MA (2009) ETHICS IN MEDICINE. Retrieved from: http://depts.washington.edu/bioethx/topics/pad.html
National Institute of Medicine (2007) Ethical and legal considerations in mitigating pandemic disease Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK54163/
Rather, Buchanan proposed the field of public health to gain the public’s trust, needs to expand individual autonomy by promoting social justice while discussing the common portrayals of justice. The rationale behind Buchanan’s work is to bring understanding to an ethical issue of paternalism v. autonomy in public health. Paternalism can be justified given it protects the interest of the people and autonomy is an individual’s freedom from external control or influence. There are valid arguments for both sides, but in public health, paternalism is very useful situationally, while autonomy must be preserved and respected as it is an individual given right. Aiming for an ideal range where public health policy and individual freedom can overlap, no matter the inconsistencies, is the
Westrick, S. (2013). Legal and Ethical Issues in Healthcare. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
In this diverse society we are confronted everyday with so many ethical choices in provision of healthcare for individuals. It becomes very difficult to find a guideline that would include a border perspective which might include individual’s beliefs and preference across the world. Due to these controversies, the four principles in biomedical ethic which includes autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and justice help us understand and explain which medical practices are ethical and acceptable. These principles are not only used to protect the rights of a patient but also the physician from being violated.
Gedge, E., & Waluchow, W. (2012). Readings in health care ethics (2nd ed.). Toronto, Ontario: Broadview Press.
Steinbock, Bonnie, Alex J. London, and John D. Arras. "The Principles Approach." Ethical Issues in Modern Medicine. Contemporary Readings in Bioethics. 8th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2013. 36-37. Print.
At an early stage in my medical school in Iraq, I realized the great positive impact of public health on the community in health education orientation, disease prevention and health well-being as a general and what affirmed it later, my clinical practice as a physician in Iraq first then Dubai later. Public health was a major integral block in my clinical practice to educate the people towards a healthier lifestyle and implementing the preventative screening measures necessary to get a healthy, well protected community. After moving to the United States, I took the initiative to familiarize myself with the US healthcare system by doing many clinical rotations in different family practices and pediatric clinics in Houston, TX. After these rotations, I was enamored with the delivery of public health measures in each clinic, according to the US public health standards. My fondness for public health drove me to get an opportunity to be a health educator
Ethics refers to the values and customs of a community at a particular point in time. At present, the term ethics is guided by the moral principles that guide our everyday actions. These moral principles guide the researcher into deciding what is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. The foundation of medical ethics is governed by two philosophical frameworks that are deontology, and utilitarianism. However ultimately the ethics committees need to balance the risks, and benefits for the participants and the community associated with the particular research proposal. This balance is quite important as the well being of participants is at risk.7
In some way, public health is seen as a modern philosophical and ideological perspective based on ‘equity’ and aimed to determine inequitable in society. It seen as a ‘science’ and ‘art’ in the sense that it deals with the cause of disease, treatment of illness as well as it involves laboratory experiments, intervention and promoting of health of the population. Winslow (1920, p. 23) defined public health as ‘the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting physical health and efficiency through organised community efforts for the sanitation of the environment, the control community infections, the education of the individual in principles of personal hygiene, the organisation of medical and nursing service for early diagnosis and preventive treatment of disease, and the development of social machinery which will ensure to every individual in the community a standard of living adequate for the maintenance of health. On the other hand, it is ‘the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through organised effort of society’ (Acheson, 1998; in Cowley S, 2002, p. 261).
Jecker, N. (1990). Integrating medical ethics with normative theory: Patient advocacy and social responsibility. 11(2), 125-139.
When addressing ethical issues, specifically in global health, the ultimate concern should always be the needs of the vulnerable
Garrett, T. M., Baillie, H. W., & Garrett, R. M. (2010). Health care ethics: Principles and problems (5thed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Public Health is the science of preventing disease and promoting health through many different ideas and functions by informing society and different community-based organizations. The idea behind Public Health is to protect and serve; it helps improve the lives of countless individuals through promoting a healthier lifestyle, education, research, prevention, detection, and response management. From the beginning, the idea of Public Health has become a stepping-stone that is essential to the longevity of humans and the environment. As society progresses and new advents are created or modified, Public Health