10:832:356 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Numbers Game, Obstetrics And Gynaecology, Prokaryote
9 May 2018
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Lecture #4: Ethics and Human Rights (Doing Ethics)
I. Defining Human Rights
• Human Rights- Rights of the individual against state interference (Gostin, p. 17).
• State Interference- Refers to interference by any governmental body, state, federal or local/
municipal.
• Impose affirmative duties on states to act for the welfare of society.
• Human Rights- “The right of everyone to the highest attainable standard of physical and
mental health” (Ibid).
• Include civil and political rights.
• Autonomy.
• Bodily integrity.
• Privacy.
• Non-discrimination.
II. Legal Definitions of Some Human Rights
• Autonomy- The right of an individual to make their own decisions, without undue influence,
especially by a state actor.
• Bodily Integrity- The right of an individual to make decisions regarding their own body.
• How far does this go?
• How far does it go to children?
• Example: Piercing your baby’s ears when they are six months old.
• Privacy- The right of an individual to live without unwarranted interference by the public
(state) in matters which do not necessarily involve the public.
• Example: Naming your child whatever you want (besides a curse word because that is
illegal).
• Non-discrimination- The right of an individual to be free from unfair treatment or denial of
normal privileges based on race, age, sex, nationality, religion or disability.
• You can look at this things, but you cannot discriminate against them.
• Example: OBGYN campaign can target females because you have to. You just cannot
discriminate.
III. Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/.
• Non-binding agreement among UN chartered countries.
• Article 25:
• (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of
himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary
social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability,
widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
• (2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children,
whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.
• Children are given same legal rights, whether they are out of marriage or wedlock.
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• It’s not the parents’ right to not accept child support because that is not their money.
• This is the standard in US law now; however, the legitimacy of a child often precluded the
child from realizing all the rights of children born in wedlock (old common law system judged
the two differently).
IV. A Provisional Framework for Determining the Impact of Public Health Policy on Human
Rights
• These are theories that provide suggestions on how to consider the impact on human rights
when implementing public health policies.
• Three considerations to link human rights and public health policy:
• Impact of PH policies, programs and practices on human rights.
• Health impacts resulting from the violation of human rights.
• The link between public health and human rights.
• The impact should far outweigh the violation of human rights.
V. Functions of Public Health
• Three factors that shape the function of public health in a human rights context.
• You should look at all three of these when determining if the public health policy you seek to
implement, or one that is already in place, and make sure all three are addressed.
• 1.) Assessing issues in public health.
• How might the collection of data to assess public health needs interfere with or violate
human rights?
• Information may not be collected from stakeholders.
• Impoverished people who are hesitant to speak with public health agents.
• These people do not usually trust authoritative figures.
• False data.
• Lack of access to the internet.
• Lack of knowledge to understand need for data/ type of data to collect.
• You need people to trust you in order to get accurate data.
• Public health issues are assessed by the collection of data from those who are affected, and
those in the surrounding community.
• 2.) Developing policies to address these issues.
• Transparency:
• Needed to avoid the appearance of impropriety regarding human rights issues.
• Disparate Treatment:
• Certain groups may be given lower priority because they are not politically savvy and/
or disenfranchised.
• Felons, who cannot vote.
• Undocumented workers.
• Children (they have no political voice, but they should not be ignored).
• Groups who feel disenfranchised and therefore do not seek assistance.
• When developing PH policy, you must have transparency; also must insure that groups are
not be given disparate, or uneven, treatment. Do not ignore the “forgotten masses” who
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Document Summary
All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection: children are given same legal rights, whether they are out of marriage or wedlock. A provisional framework for determining the impact of public health policy on human. Page !2 either do not have a voice or do not speak loudly enough to be heard, out of fear, ignorance, or for other reasons: 3. ) Page !3: some countries in which opposite genders can only interact in marriage have female emts that only deal with female patients in order to prevent not addressing the female population. 29011904. html: fear of human rights watchers to travel in areas with poor public health, generally, a lack of reliable public health practices, is caused by a failing or self- promoting government. Possible human rights violations to consider in a ph context: 1. )
