245584 “Neither seen nor heard": The ethical realities for children facing pandemic emergencies

Monday, October 31, 2011: 12:30 PM

James J. Clark, PhD , College of Social Work; Center for Study of Violence against Children, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
Ginny Sprang, PhD , Center for the Study of Violence Against Children, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
Phyllis Leigh, MSW, CSW , Center for the Study of Violence Against Children, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
Candice Jackson, MSW, CSW , Center for the Study of Violence Against Children, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
Miriam S. Silman, MSW , Center for the Study of Violence Against Children, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
A. Scott LaJoie, PhD, MSPH , Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences, University of Louisville School of Public Health and Information Sciences, Louisville, KY
     
Despite the crucial position of children as pandemic victims and vectors, our North American empirical study, sponsored by the US Department of Homeland Security, has uncovered their systematic, if unintentional, exclusion from meaningful public health analysis even after H1N1 and SARS. This exclusion interacts with equally compelling ethical problems such as the non-inclusion of minority communities and families in pandemic preparedness planning. These foundational, ethical problems have led to the development of laws and policies that may paradoxically operate to worsen the public's health and exacerbate the erosion of the public's trust during crisis periods requiring significant levels of cooperation from US communities. This session will analyze these problems and describe our empirical findings of how public health actors are attempting to address such problems. The likely impacts of current approaches are discussed and recommendations for pragmatic, ethically informed strategies will be presented.

Learning Areas:
Administration, management, leadership
Ethics, professional and legal requirements
Protection of the public in relation to communicable diseases including prevention or control
Public health or related laws, regulations, standards, or guidelines
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
1. Identify and describe central ethical conflicts in current public health approaches to assisting children during pandemic emergencies. 2. Analyze how the systematic operation of exclusion, stigma, and fundamental misunderstanding drive these ethical problems. 3. Formulate empirical research findings to evaluate current approaches to and promising strategies for managing these ethical problems.

Keywords: Children and Adolescents, Ethics

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the Co-PI on the federally funded project and leader on the law and ethics section of the project from which this research is derived. I serve as Associate Dean for Research and hold the endowed post of Constance Wilson Professor of Mental Health at the University of Kentucky. I have published and presented widely in the areas of ethics , forensics, and law.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

See more of: Child Health: Ethical Challenges for Communities
See more of: Ethics SPIG