Question

Law vs. Ethics in Public Health Affairs Suppose you are advisor to the health officer in a medium-sized city in upstate New York that is experiencing an increase in syphilis and a rise in HIV infection among a particular population—men who have sex with men. The health officer is concerned that some of the fraternity and sorority houses at a local college in the health district have a higher incidence of both infections. Given the recent surge in infections, she believes that the affected fraternity and sorority houses should be closed and has asked whether a government official has the legal authority to do so; and, if so, whether this would be an ethically justifiable decision. Do you believe public health officials should have the authority to close sorority houses? If so, what should they do in this scenario and why?

Needs to be 3 to 5 pages.

Answer 1

Public health is aimed at protecting the safety and empowering the health of the communities through education, making policies and conducting researches about dieases and prevention of injury.

The duties of public health professionals include

• Updating the health status of a community to monitor potentional problems
• Investigate the major health issues and hazards in the community
• Empowering people by providing awareness about health issues particularly to those at risk
• Formulating plans and policies that support individual and community health
• Conducting research for finding out creative solutions for health issues

The rules and codes to protect the health of the public is mandatory as there is a high demand, because of technological advances that create new possibilities and new challenges to health such as HIV, Syphilis and Ghoneria. The Code of ethics for public health can clarify the populations and communities the ideologies of public health institutions that serve them.

Ethical Practices of Public Health

• Public health institutions should inform communities about their decisions to implement policies or programs, but should get the communities vote for its implementation
• Public health should be able to answer the fundamental reasons behind as diesease and requirements of health inorder to prevent adverse health outcomes
• It should acheive community health by respecting the rights of the individuals in community
• Public health institutions should meet the time deadlines for all their public activities and should strictly adhere to the mandates they have given to the public in executing the programs and policies.
• It should create public health policies and programmes and evaluate the processes and should ensure an oppurtunity for opinions and feedbacks from community members.
• The health programs and policies should be acceptable to everyone and should not effect the morale, values, beliefs and culture of any one in the community.
• Public health should work for the empowerment of community members by ensuring the basic resources and conditions that are easily accessible to the members of the community.
• It should try to get the information needed to implement the policies and programmes that protect and enchance health
• Public health programs should promote the physical and social environment of individuals and has to encourage the unity and co-operation of the people within the community.
• Public health institutions should not make public the confidentiality of an individual if it can bring harm or disgrace to him in the community unless hiding the details will create serious consequences to the individual and the community.
• Public health institutions should maintain the competence of its employees professionally and ethically.
• Public health institutions, wherever possible should collaborate and affiliate with other organizations/institutions to improve its effectiveness at the same time without losing the public's trust.

Public Health officials have the authority to close the Sorority houses if it pose a grave challenge to the public health with the help of Government officials. But as per the Code of Ethics Public health should not take a unilateral decision for closure of the houses, and it has responsibility to educate the community.

Public Health officials should inform to the community about its decision to close the houses and their opinions and feedback have to be duly considered and the policy should be evaluated in the public. When the policies are discussed in open forum, lot many opinions and suggestions may come from the public and effective alternate ways to fight the increase in Syphilis and HIV infection will surface out. Considering all these inputs, a unanimous decision to close the houses or otherwise have to be taken.