Public health's goal to serve the common good is never more at odds with individual rights than in times of emergency.
Jeffrey Kahn sees this tension in his work directing the Center for Bioethics at the University of Minnesota. The center is working with the Minnesota Department of Health to develop ethical guidelines for allocating medications, vaccines, protective equipment, and other items that will be in short supply in an influenza pandemic.
It has been estimated that in the face of a pandemic the country will need at least seven times the amount of ventilators it currently uses, a number that far exceeds what will be available.
The critical question will be who gets to use the few ventilators we have. The youngest? The sickest? The most likely to survive? Will we choose to pull ventilators away from patients who are comatose?
"This is going to be a really hard conversation to have in terms of public health and individual rights," said Kahn. The discussion also touched on other ethical dilemmas. "Will we restrict liberty in the interest of public health by measures such as quarantine," asked Kahn.
"What is the duty of health care workers to provide care during an outbreak, even at their own peril?"
To view this presentation, go to www.cpheo.sph.umn.edu/institute.
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