Case studies

In Ethics and Ebola: Public Health Planning and Response, the Bioethics Commission emphasized the importance of effective public health communication and real-time integration of ethics expertise in public health emergencies, in addition to early planning. This case study illustrates how public health professionals consider and address ethics and public health communication as a major outbreak unfolds.

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Distinctive features of public health can heighten certain ethical considerations and generate ethical questions that differ from those in clinical medicine or research. The Bioethics Commission developed case studies based on its work that provide an educational opportunity to analyze scenarios similar to those that public health professionals might encounter.

Download case studies introduction here.

Additional public health case studies:

In Ethics and Ebola: Public Health Planning and Response, the Bioethics Commission emphasized the importance of grounding  public health policies in the best available scientific evidence, and implementing measures that restrict individual or community  liberties only when they are required  to  protect  public  health. This case study illustrates how public health professionals consider the ethical components of restrictive measures as a major outbreak unfolds.