Public health ethics: informing better public health practice

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Contents Vol 23(6)

doi:10.1071/NB12066

Supporting public health practice in New South Wales

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Public health ethics: informing better public health practice

Stacy M. Carter ^A ^E, Ian Kerridge ^A ^B, Peter Sainsbury ^A ^C and Julie K. Letts ^D

^A Centre for Values, Ethics and the Law in Medicine, The University of Sydney
^B Department of Haematology, Royal North Shore Hospital
^C Population Health, South Western Sydney and Sydney Local Health Districts
^D Office of the Chief Health Officer, NSW Ministry of Health
^E Corresponding author. Email: stacy.carter@sydney.edu.au

NSW Public Health Bulletin 23(6) 101-106 http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/NB12066
Published: 28 June 2012





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Abstract

Public health ethics has emerged and grown as an independent discipline over the last decade. It involves using ethical theory and empirical analyses to determine and justify the right thing to do in public health. In this paper, we distinguish public health ethics from clinical ethics, research ethics, public health law and politics. We then discuss issues in public health ethics including: how to weigh up the benefits, harms and costs of intervening; how to ensure that public health interventions produce fair outcomes; the potential for public health to undermine or promote the rights of citizens; and the significance of being transparent and inclusive in public health interventions. We conclude that the explicit and systematic consideration of ethical issues will, and should, become central to every public health worker’s daily practice.

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