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Public Health Ethical Issues

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Public Health Ethics is focused on the good for the society as a whole and it can infringe in the medical ethics of the individual thereby creating conflict. However, public health ethics must focus on the society and its distinctive nature of collective good, prevention, government action and its intrinsic outcome-orientation for the population (Public Health Ethics, n.d., 2015). A conflict can be the end-of-life debate that is considered a medical ethic but becomes a public health ethic because services involve administration and financial dimensions that are part of public health and management of health services (Williams & Torrens, 2008). Also, a source of conflict can be the mental health and protection of society against the legal …show more content…
Also, moral and legal imperative of privacy on an individual’s medical record gives way to public health regarding reporting gunshot wounds, communicable disease, child abuse and AIDS and the good of the population overrides the need of the individual’s right to privacy (Williams & Torrens, 2008). However to ensure private medical records and the release of information is not abused Congress adopted the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability act (Williams & Torrens, 2008). Also, public health ethic and the provider’s conflict of interest has been an issue. When the interest of the provider overrides the interest of the well-being of the general community it has crossed the line in public health ethics (Perry, 2012). The ethical boundaries require legislators, policy makers and government regulations requires a separation of medical business and heath care policy to ensure the protection of the public as outlined in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act(Perry, 2012). The mandate to ensure and protect the health of the public is an inherently moral one and carries with it an obligation to care for the well-being of communities but the need to exercise power to ensure the health of populations and, at the same time, to avoid abuses of such power are at the crux of public health ethics (Thomas, Sage, Dillenberg &

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