Ethics, Prevention, and Public Health

by Dawson, Angus; Verweij, Marcel

• ISBN13: 9780199570539
• ISBN10: 0199570531
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-09-07
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Public health is an important and fast-developing area of ethical discussion. In this volume a range of issues in public health ethics are explored using the resources of moral theory, political philosophy, philosophy of science, applied ethics, law, and economics. The twelve original papers presented consider numerous ethical issues arise within public health ethics. To what extent can the public good or the public interest justify state interventions that impose limits upon the freedom of individuals? What role should the law play in regulating risks? Should governments actively aim to change our preferences about such things as food, smoking or physical exercise? What are public goods, and what role (if any) do they play in public health? To what extent do individuals have moral obligations to contribute to protecting the community or the public good? Where is it appropriate to concentrate upon prevention rather than cure? Given the fact that we cannot be protected from all harm, what sorts of harm provide a justification for public health action? What limits do we wish to place upon public health activities? How do we ensure that the interests of individuals are not set aside or forgotten in the pursuit of population benefits? An excellent line-up of authors from North America, Europe, and the UK tackle these questions.

Author Biography

Angus Dawson is Senior Lecturer in Ethics & Philosophy in the Centre for Professional Ethics at Keele University in the UK.
Marcel Verweij is senior researcher and lecturer at the Ethics Institute, Utrecht University.

Table of Contents

Notes on Contributors	p. vii
Preface	p. xi
Introduction: Ethics, Prevention, and Public Health	p. 1
The Meaning of 'Public' in 'Public Health'	p. 13
Public Health and Civic Republicanism: Toward an Alternative Framework for Public Health Ethics	p. 30
Health of the People: The Highest Law?	p. 59
Population-Level Bioethics: Mapping a New Agenda	p. 78
Parental Choice and Expert Knowledge in the Debate about MMR and Autism	p. 95
Ethical Issues in Applying Quantitative Models for Setting Priorities in Prevention	p. 111
Reasonable Limits to Public Health Demands	p. 129
Vertical Transmission of Infectious Diseases and Genetic Disorder: Are the Medical and Public Responses Consistent?	p. 115
Herd Protection as a Public Good: Vaccination and our Obligations to Others	p. 160
Tobacco Discouragement: A Non-Paternalistic Argument	p. 179
Informed Consent and the Expansion of Newborn Screening	p. 198
References	p. 213
Index	p. 233
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