Module 1: Distinguishing Public Health Ethics from Medical Ethics

| Introduction | Presentation | Readings | Exercises | References | Evaluation |

Exercises

1. Medical ethics emanate from interactions between a patient and a physician while public health ethics emanate from interactions between an agency, such as the state health department, and the population it serves. In the case of vaccination for an infectious disease such as measles, a physician will consider the autonomy of her patient (people can refuse "required" vaccinations on the basis of religious beliefs or moral convictions). While the director of a public health department will not want to violate an individual's rights, his perspective will extend to a whole population. What concerns beyond the rights of individuals to refuse vaccination might he have when implementing a vaccination program for the population?

2. An ethic of human rights is popular among many in public health. On the surface it seems to be one of the more intuitive ethics. The presentation points out that rights don't carry much force unless people agree on them. Can you identify some human rights related to the health of the public that people agree on? Can you identify others that people do not agree on?