 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Harvey Kayman, MD, MPH, FAAP and Lisbeth S. Turner, RN, MSN. Pee Dee Public Health District, South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, 145 East Cheves Street, Florence, SC 29506, 843-661-4830, kaymanh@dhec.sc.gov
Establishing a public health ethics forum
Recent threats of bio-terrorism in our country serve as a prime example of the need for discourse among community members and public health officials related to ethical issues concerning the health of the public. Up until a few months ago, no such opportunity existed in the Pee Dee Public Health District of South Carolina.
Early in 2001, a group of public health professionals brainstormed the need to form an “ethics committee.” After attending a Health Care Ethics conference, polling other health districts in our state, and conducting a literature search, we found that limited work had been done in the area of developing formal public health ethics committees. Journal articles provided frameworks that were adapted and consolidated for the beginning efforts. After contact with the state agency’s Executive Team members and legal department to establish boundaries related to deliberations, a diverse group of community members convened for a formative meeting of the Pee Dee Public Health Ethics Forum on March 25, 2002.Subsequent meetings included: review of basis ethical principles and philosophies; development of goals, objectives, and action plans; sharing of pertinent articles and discourse on topics such as health care for illegal immigrants, emergency contraception, and smallpox vaccination.
This pioneering effort has proven to be timely in view of the many volatile issues and fiscal responsibilities facing public health agencies today. Ethical discourse should help make public health work more effective and sustain our integrity in the eyes of the public.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Ethics, Community
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.