Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #113812

Thomas May, PhD, Center for the Study of Bioethics, Medical College of Wisconsin, 8701 Watertown Plank Road, Milwaukee, WI 53226, 414/456-8451, tmay@mcw.edu, Heidi Malm, PhD, Department of Philosophy, Loyola University - Chicago, 6525 North Sheridan Road, Chicago, IL 60626, Joan McGregor, PhD, Bioethics, Policy, and Law Program, Arizona State University, PO Box 874501, School of Life Sciences, Tempe, AZ 85287, and Peggy Connolly, PhD, Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy Program, 1500 W. Sullivan Road, Aurora, IL 60506.

This submission is for a panel of four speakers who will examine how certain public health programs designed to prevent harm can actually cause, or significantly increase the risk of, harm. The panel will require approximately 1 ˝ hours. Heidi Malm (Loyola University – Chicago) will examine several screening tests that are routinely recommended to asymptomatic individuals despite the lack of evidence that testing will, on balance, be beneficial to the person who has these. The recommendation to have such tests is based upon presumptions that focus solely on the benefits to the sick, ignoring risks these tests pose to the healthy. Thomas May (Medical College of Wisconsin) will examine how several programs designed to enhance bioterror defense might actually be counter-productive, including elements of project “Bioshield,” smallpox vaccination planning efforts, and restrictions on training of foreign scientists and physicians. Each of these programs has contributed to conditions that inhibit development of basic public health infrastructure necessary to effectively defend against a bioterror attack. Joan McGregor (Arizona State University) will examine how the failure to understand cultural differences can cause unique harms to vulnerable populations, especially those in developing countries. In particular, this presentation will focus on clinical research conducted in developing countries. Peggy Connolly (Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy) will examine inherent informed consent problems posed by certain clinical interventions. In particular, this presentation will focus on interventions that can only be withdrawn through surgery, including devices used to control incontinence in children, and implantable birth control devices.

Learning Objectives:

• to identify how lack of empirical evidence can lead to presumptions that are counter-productive.
• to understand how broader values can change the balance of risks/benefits for public health intervention.
• to understand how commonly neglected perspectives might influence our unbderstanding of harm.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.