141st APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

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Recorded Annual Meeting Presentations (RAMP) are now available for purchase.
Only $90 for presenters, $140 for registered attendees and $200 for non-attendees.

Online Program

278102
Introduction to public health ethics and the process of ethical analysis


Sunday, November 3, 2013 : 8:20 a.m. - 8:55 a.m.

Ruth Gaare Bernheim, JD, MPH, MPH Program, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
The purpose of this presentation is to provide an overview of the field of public health ethics, to describe some of the fundamental differences between public health ethics and bioethics, provide some practical examples of public health ethics challenges, and to propose a framework for addressing ethical issues that arise in the practice of public health. This framework includes a process for analyzing ethical issues, evaluating the ethical dimensions of the alternate course of public health action, and providing justification for public health action.

Learning Areas:

Ethics, professional and legal requirements

Learning Objectives:
Describe the field of public health ethics. Demonstrate how to use ethical frameworks.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the Chair of the Department of Public Health Sciences in the School of Medicine, University of Virginia (UV). I also am the Associate Director for the Institute for Practical Ethics and Public Life at UV. For many years, I have served as the Co-director for the Ethics Committee of the Public Health Leadership Society and have consulted with this group about implementing the Public Health Code of Ethics.
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.

Back to: 2012.0: Good decision making in real time: Practical public health ethics for local and state health officials in the US -- Fee: $250