Module 3 Case Health, Medicine, Nursing Essay Paper

MODULE 3 CASE
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Introduction
According to Hasting Centre, public health entails the actions by a society that ensure necessary conditions – economic, environmental and social factors- that promote the health of its members. Public Health works to prevent illnesses and its perspective is towards a given population rather than an individual and seeks social justice CITATION Law18 \l 1033 (Lawrence O. Gostin and Lindsay F. Wiley).
Public health often finds itself in conflict with individual rights such as autonomy while attempting to ensure its goals. This sector may inhibit freedom of movement, religion, and association as well as privacy when protecting the general public CITATION Law18 \l 1033 (Lawrence O. Gostin and Lindsay F. Wiley). In order to justify the actions of public health, several theories, namely, utilitarianism, paternalism and distributive justice are discussed below and their application to the sector.
Utilitarianism
Public health is more relatable to utilitarianism because it seeks to promote the health of the maximum individuals. Utilitarianism is described as identifying ‘the good with utility and the right with that which maximizes utility.’ Utility in public health is the value guiding programs, policies and actions geared towards ensuring health to as maximum individuals as possible. A utility which is the ‘good’ has four concepts that offer and can be used to justify public healthCITATION Uti16 \l 1033 (Utilitarianism in Public Health, 2016).
The first concept of utility is that it is a pleasure which is the absence of bad, evil and suffering. Public Health works to reduce suffering to the population and looks for the good actions, policies, and programs that will promote pleasure in the essence of health to the large population. The second concept describes utility as the preference satisfaction. Public health comes up with policies and programs that will satisfy the preferences of most members in a society and thus ensure maximum individuals are healthyCITATION Uti16 \l 1033 (Utilitarianism in Public Health, 2016).
The third concept is that individual preferences would be met if the persons involved had all the needed information and ability to make informed decisions as far as promotion of general public’s health is concerned. Lastly, public health seeks to meet the interest that is shared by the majority of the members of a given society. These interests are the resources needed for health promotion before one pursues any individual preferences in a given issue of public healthCITATION Uti16 \l 1033 (Utilitarianism in Public Health, 2016). In Ebola outbreaks, travel bans have been issued in the affected continent to prevent its spread and public health requires adherence to this even though one may want to travel to a particular country not touched by Ebola in that continent.
Paternalism
In the era of autonomy principle and respecting individual choices, public health policies have been largely criticized for being paternalistic. Paternalism is described as an interference with the autonomy of a person without their consent, but in the end goal they will be better off and will benefit from ...