Difference Between Medical/Individual Ethics And Public Health Ethics

There are a few root causes of the conflict between medical/individual ethics and public health ethical standards. One of these root causes of the conflict involves how the public health system and population needs evolved (Bayer, 2007). During and following the industrial revolution in Europe and the United States, the concentration of individuals in smaller areas caused enormous concerns regarding communicable diseases and chronic health conditions that developed as a result of working in these new industries. To address these rapidly changing issues, legislative and judiciary bodies tended to give more sweeping powers to address the concerns than we would likely view as acceptable today. Previous ethical and practice guidelines for both public health and medical ethics tended to be more paternalistic in nature. However, recent moves towards increased patient autonomy in medical/individual ethics have likely increased the conflict with public health ethics. These paternalistic standards, now apparently more present in public health, violate a competent patient’s choices ignores the fact that patient’s goals may be …show more content…
Medical/individual ethics have the individual as their focus, whereas public health ethics has the community/population as their focus (Williams & Torrens, 2008). This definitional and practical difference in who is served by the ethical standards makes for a natural conflict when the needs of the individual differs from the needs of the community. Another root cause of the conflict is human nature. An individual is rarely going to cede what they feel is best for themselves or those they are close to for the needs of a community that they have little interaction with. The issues that arise between public health ethics and medical/individual ethics sometimes must be resolved by legislative or judiciary