Ethics of Public Health Policies

For this case assignment, write a 3- to 4-page essay in which you address the following:

Discuss the application of the following ethical theories/principles to public health. Provide recent examples within the field of public health which are consistent or inconsistent with these principles:

Utilitarianism

Distributive Justice

Paternalism

Selgelid (2009) wrote: “While public health ethicists often claim that the least restrictive alternative should be used to achieve the public health goal in question, I argue that a plausible but under-recognized idea is that the least restrictive alternative might sometimes involve improvement of global health via redistributive taxation—i.e., rather than coercive social distancing measures.” What did he mean by this? Provide arguments for and against his position.

Assignment Expectations

Length: Assignment should be between 3 to 4 pages (750-1000 words) in length.

Assessment and Grading: Your paper will be assessed based on the performance assessment grading rubric that is linked within the course. Review it before you begin working on the assignment.