HLT 600 GC Week 7 Public Health Policy Ethics Latest

This assignment will be a collaborative learning team project. The instructor will assign each student to a CLC group.

Scenario: You are in a committee of legislators reviewing the Universal Health Care Act presented by former President William Clinton, located at http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-103hr3600ih/pdf/BILLS-103hr3600ih.pdf

After reviewing the Universal Health Care Act, the committee is tasked with providing an analysis of the ethical considerations of the Act and the implications for accessibility of health care to all American citizens. The analysis should encompass:

1) The history and social context of the Act.

2) Viewpoints for and against the enactment of this act including supporting evidence for both sides.

3) Major frameworks in public health ethics that could be applied to this issue.

4) Recommendations the committee would suggest to strengthen the policy.

The analysis should be presented in a PowerPoint presentation (12-15 slides).

While APA format is not required for the body of this assignment, solid academic writing is expected and in-text citations and references should be presented using APA documentation guidelines, which can be found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.

This assignment uses a grading rubric. Instructors will be using the rubric to grade the assignment; therefore, students should review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the assignment criteria and expectations for successful completion of the assignment.

At the time of submission of the assignment, each member will also complete the “HLT 600 Committee Peer Review.” This document will be used in determining individual group participation as well as successful management and completion of project deadlines.

MORE INFO 

Public Health Policy Ethics

Introduction

Public health is a field that deals with the promotion and protection of health. It is considered to be an ethical issue as it involves the use of personal information and resources, which has to be maintained in a manner that promotes the well-being of individuals in society. In this article we will discuss some ethical issues related to public health policy

Public Health

Public health is a field of study that studies the promotion and protection of health. It focuses on preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting human well-being. Public health includes all aspects of social determinants of health such as:

• Population dynamics (such as birth rates and migration)

• Social inequalities in income distribution, education levels, employment opportunities etc., which can lead to poor nutrition or other negative outcomes for individuals or communities; these are called ‘risk factors’. Risk factors can be prevented through effective public policy interventions (e.g., reducing alcohol consumption).

Ethical Issues in the Field of Public Health

The main ethical issues in public health are:

• The right to health, which involves the right of individuals to be free from disease and injury;

• The right to information, which deals with the importance of being able to access accurate and complete information about diseases or other harmful conditions;

• Autonomy, which means having control over one’s own choices without interference from others;

• Confidentiality, meaning that information should not be shared with anyone who does not have an authorized need for it; and finally:

• Participation in decision making (i.e., participation). This includes being able to participate openly in meetings where decisions are made about your healthcare or other needs related directly back into your life experience as well as being sure those same meetings include members who represent groups underrepresented within certain facets of society such as race/ethnicity/gender etcetera(s).

The Consequentialist Approach

The consequentialist approach is a moral theory that states that the consequences of an action are the ultimate basis for any judgment about the rightness or wrongness of that action. It’s also known as teleological, meaning it holds that consequences are the ultimate purpose of moral action.

This approach to ethics has been criticized by philosophers for being too reductionist and simplistic when compared with other systems such as deontology or virtue ethics. However, consequentialists argue that these critiques ignore how much better off society would be if everyone followed their rules instead of trying to make them fit within some idealized system where people only follow certain rules according to their own personal beliefs about what constitutes right behavior (i.e., Kantianism).

Consequentialism vs. Non-Consequentialism

Consequentialism is the idea that the ends justify the means. Non-consequentialism, on the other hand, holds that the means do not justify themselves in and of themselves—they must be judged according to their consequences.

In public health, we can see these two ethical philosophies play out in several ways:

• The use of surveillance tools like electronic health records (EHRs) or clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) to improve patient care and outcomes by improving quality metrics;

• The use of incentives such as prizes or awards for health professionals who achieve certain outcomes;

• The use of financial penalties for patients who don’t follow doctor’s orders or comply with medication regimen schedules (e.g., “You could lose your dental benefits if you don’t come back here next week”).

Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism, or the principle of utility, is a philosophical approach that focuses on the greatest good for the greatest number. The idea behind utilitarianism is that you should act in ways that maximize benefits and minimize harm. For example, if you know a woman has breast cancer and her chemotherapy will cure her cancer but it may also kill her baby—a fact she does not know—you have an ethical obligation to save both mother and child by giving her an abortion instead of having them die together at birth.

Utilitarianism has been applied in public health ethics since its inception with Jeremy Bentham’s “calculation method” (1689), which states: “The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will”

In light of this quote from John Stuart Mill’s “Utilitarianism,” what would be your best choice between two evils?

The Utilitarian Theory in Public Health Ethics

The utilitarian approach is concerned with the consequences of actions. It is based on the premise that the right action is the one that maximizes utility, which can be defined as pleasure and the absence of pain. This approach has been criticized for its tendency to ignore ethical concerns about human dignity, but it does provide an effective framework for analyzing public health policies since it provides a way to identify which interventions are beneficial or harmful relative to other options available in society (e.g., smoking vs vaping).

In addition, there are several other theories of public health ethics that differ from utilitarianism in significant ways:

The Consequentialist Approach in Public Health Ethics

In public health ethics, the consequentialist approach is a common method for determining what acts are morally acceptable and what actions should be avoided. The consequentialist theory states that an action is morally right if it produces the most good for the most people. This can be interpreted as saying that we should do whatever will result in the greatest happiness for society as a whole—including ourselves! Consequentialism was first proposed by John Stuart Mill (1806–1873), who believed that maximizing happiness was always preferable over minimizing suffering.

The utilitarian approach to public health ethics can be applied even when there are no clear lines between good and bad or right and wrong; this makes it useful when dealing with complex situations where there may not always be an obvious answer to what’s right or wrong.

Conclusion

The Consequentialist Approach in Public Health Ethics is an ethical theory that argues that the government should intervene when it has the power to limit or prevent harm.

The main principle of this approach is that “the rightness or wrongness of an act depends on the balance of interests at stake, and not simply on its consequences.” In other words, what matters most are not your own desires but rather those of others who will be affected by your action—for example, someone who might be hurt by a policy decision made in your name (or someone who might die as a result). This means that when deciding whether or not something is ethical, you should consider both what’s best for yourself and also how it affects other people too!

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