10:832:356 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Due Process, Procedural Justice, Libertarian Paternalism
9 May 2018
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Lecture #3: Mapping the Terrain: A Rough Conceptual Map of the Terrain of Public Health
Ethics
I. General Moral Considerations
• General values, morals or rules relevant to public health.
• What do you consider when making public health decisions:
• Benefits produced.
• Hippocratic Oath: Avoidance, prevention, and removing harms.
• Cost Benefit Analysis: Balancing benefits over harms and costs.
• Distributive and procedural justice.
• Fair distribution of risks and benefits.
• Due process- Notice and ability to be heard.
• Before I take something away from you, what is the process?
• The process due when the government wants to interfere with your rights as an
individual.
• 3 Rights: Life, liberty, and/or property.
• Example: You have a toxic backyard and the government interferes to fix it, then
they are stepping on your due process rights.
• You have opportunity to plead your case = You have your rights.
• Respect for autonomy.
• Making decisions for yourself -> That is your autonomy.
• How far should your autonomy go? How far should the government go to step on your
autonomy?
• Protection of privacy and confidentiality.
• Secure information is its own job.
• How private is your information?
• Think of health information.
• Keeping of promises and commitments (either contractually or otherwise).
• Transparency of information/speaking honestly.
• Building and maintaining trust.
• Example: If you go in for a public health intervention, then you better be doing what you
are supposed to be doing. Otherwise, you will not get the right information.
• Why are these considerations so important?
• How does this promote effective and ethical public health policies?
• These are the basic things to examine when looking at how a decision will impact the ethical
standards of a community/ individual.
II. Considerations Allow For: Prima Facie
• A prima facie warrant (or permission) for many public health activities.
• Prima Facie Evidence- Evidence which is accepted as correct “on its face” until proven
otherwise.
• Evidence that looks like evidence on its face.
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Document Summary
Lecture #3: mapping the terrain: a rough conceptual map of the terrain of public health. It is assumed you are drunk until proven otherwise. How can we be more specific so the general concerns create concrete action plans: 2. ) How do we resolve conflicts among the general considerations: this is a balancing act between what can be done to protect and promote the public health vs. constraints and limitations created by the other considerations. You sue them and get a lot of money for it. That is justice, but that is not fair (the person who took off your leg did not get their leg taken off): five conditions to assess the general weight given to moral considerations (how do we. Luxemburg, it might be immoral to bar them from entry into the us, via all borders, even without confirming they have they disease, as it is a proportional response. Without, the public trust, you cannot do your job.
