Public Health Ethics: Cases Spanning the Globe

This Open Access book highlights the ethical issues and dilemmas that arise in the practice of public health. It is also a tool to support instruction, debate, and dialogue regarding public health ethics. Although the practice of public health has always included consideration of ethical issues, the field of public health ethics as a discipline is a relatively new and emerging area.  There are few practical training resources for public health practitioners, especially resources which include discussion of realistic cases which are likely to arise in the practice of public health. This work discusses these issues on a case to case basis and helps create awareness and understanding of the ethics of public health care. The main audience for the casebook is public health practitioners, including front-line workers, field epidemiology trainers and trainees, managers, planners, and decision makers who have an interest in learning about how to integrate ethical analysis into their day to day public health practice.  The casebook is also useful to schools of public health and public health students as well as to academic ethicists who can use the book to teach public health ethics and distinguish it from clinical and research ethics.                                                                                                           

• HIV criminalization
• anthrax vaccine for children
• black-white infant mortality
• chronic disease prevention and health promotion
• corporate sponsorship in public health
• critical care triage during a pandemic
• development of public health ethics
• disease prevention and control
• ethical issues in environmental and occupational public health
• ethical issues in resource allocation
• ethics of HIV testing policies
• mandatory vaccination
• non-adherence to treatment
• priority setting in healthcare
• public health ethics
• storage and ownership of newborn bloodspots
• vulnerability and marginalized population

“This work is the third volume in Springer’s ‘Public Health Ethics Analysis’ series. … The most recent volume examines one of the fastest growing subdisciplines of bioethics—public health ethics—from a global perspective. … Each chapter begins with an introduction and discussion of each topic, accompanied by case studies, discussion questions, and additional references for further investigation. … Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and above; faculty and professionals.” (M. L. Charleroy, Choice, Vol. 54 (5), January, 2017)

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, USA

  Drue H. Barrett

• Centers fo Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, USA

  Leonard W. Ortmann

• Center for Values, Ethics and the Law in Medicine, Sydney School of Public Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

  Angus Dawson

• Pan American Health Organization, Washington DC, USA

  Carla Saenz

• Global Health Ethics, Department of Information, Evidence and Research, World Health Organization, Geneve, Switzerland

  Andreas Reis

• Division of STD Prevention National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, USA

  Gail Bolan

Drue H. Barrett, Ph.D., Lead, Public Health Ethics Unit, Office of Scientific Integrity, Office of the Associate Director for Science, Office of the Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Gail Bolan, M.D., Director for the Division of Sexually Transmitted Disease Prevention (DSTDP), National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHHSTP), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Angus Dawson, Ph.D., Professor of Bioethics and Director, Centre for Values, Ethics & the Law in Medicine, School of Public Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney , Australia

Leonard Ortmann, Ph.D., Senior Public Health Ethics Advisor, Public Health Ethics Unit, Office of Scientific Integrity, Office of the Associate Director for Science, Office of the Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Andreas Reis, M.D., M.Sc., Technical Officer, Global Health Ethics, Department of Knowledge, Ethics and Research, World HealthOrganization, Genève, Switzerland

Carla Saenz, Ph.D., Bioethics Regional Advisor, Pan American Health Organization, Washington, D.C., USA