Public Health-Individual and Societal Rights When considering legislation relative to public health emergencies, should the rights of the individual or the rights of society have a higher priority? Defend your opinions using ethical theories and/or principles.

Public Health-Individual and Societal Rights

Ethical theories and principles form the foundation of moral assessment. They guide an individual when deciding and contribute to various aspects of life. For instance, an ethical theory can determine an individual’s duty towards other individuals. Furthermore, it can factor in when an individual wants to make a morally sound decision. All ethical theories should have clear objectives for them to be useful. These objectives are the principles that state what is expected of an individual. They include autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice.

Individual and societal rights should be prioritized when considering lawmaking and regulation relative to public health emergencies. The deontological theory states that individuals should stick to their commitments and obligations while dealing with an ethical dilemma (Tseng & Wang, 2021). For instance, healthcare providers must maintain beneficence, non-maleficence, justice, and autonomy (McNee, 2020). These principles are observed when healthcare providers are dealing with patients. Furthermore, they observe the principles when making laws and regulations regarding public health.

Beneficence is when healthcare providers’ actions benefit the patient. Legislations concerning public health emergencies should improve the health outcomes and quality of life of members of society. Second, non-maleficence requires that healthcare providers’ actions should be harmless. Therefore, legislation made during public health emergencies should not put members of the public at risk of poor health outcomes. Next, justice means treating all individuals seeking healthcare services equally. Accordingly, any legislation made during a public health emergency should not be biased. All members of the public must benefit equally, and consequences should not be directed toward a particular group. Lastly, autonomy is the right of an individual to decide on getting necessary and correct facts about a choice. The decision is accepted whether it is right or wrong. This ethical principle is difficult to observe since all members of the public should obey legislation.

References

McNee, P. (2020). Ethical issues. Nursing Care of Children and Young People with Long‐Term Conditions, 145-170. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119653134.ch7

Tseng, P. E., & Wang, Y. H. (2021). Deontological or utilitarian? An eternal ethical dilemma in Outbreak. International journal of environmental research and public health, 18(16), 8565. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18168565