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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Thomas May, PhD, Bioethics, Medical College of Wisconsin, 8701 Watertown Plank Road, Milwaukee, WI 53226, 414 456-8451, tmay@mcw.edu

Pandemic Flu presents one of the most visible and concerning public health threats in recent decades. Resources to combat this potential threat are scarce, with anti-viral treatments such as Tamiflu in short supply, and vaccines expected to take months to develop once a threatening strain of influenza is identified. Should pandemic influenza strike, then, considerable triage of resources will be necessary. Recognizing this, the Florida Department of Public Health has organized an advisory group on moral and ethical considerations related to Pandemic Flu response. This session will present some preliminary findings of this group, concerning allocation of scarce resources, social duties to health workers, and issues of omission and commission in response decision making. This session would consist of a panel of presentations on the issues described above. At the end of the session, participants should be able to identify the salient ethical issues in pandemic flu response; identify the key elements of triage during resource scarcity; and identify social obligations to public health response workers.

Learning Objectives: At the end of the session, participants should be able to

• identify the salient ethical issues in pandemic flu response;
• identify the key elements of triage in times of respource scarcity;
• idetify social obligations to public health responders.

Keywords: Access and Services, Infectious Diseases

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation