HLSS508 WK2 Public Health Emergency Bioterrorism
Responses should be a minimum of 250 words and include direct questions. You may challenge, support or supplement another student’s answer using the terms, concepts and theories from the required readings. Also, do not be afraid to respectfully disagree where you feel appropriate; as this should be part of your analysis process at this academic level.
Forum posts are graded on timeliness, relevance, knowledge of the weekly readings, and the quality of original ideas. Sources utilized to support answers are to be cited in accordance with the APA writing style by providing a general parenthetical citation (reference the author, year and page number) within your post, as well as an adjoining reference list. Refer to grading rubric for additional details concerning grading criteria.
Respond to Michael:
A public health emergency exists when the ordinary health service capabilities of a community are overwhelmed by an extreme situation or event (The Hastings Center, n.d.). I believe restricting civil liberties would be called for if a Bio Terror attack or a pandemic where to occur, and the supply of vaccines or in the case of bio attack medicine to reverse the condition is in short supply. If we look at the response in 1918 for an influenza outbreak where over a half a million people died, the only way to let die away or as they term it burn it out would to restrict contact with other people (Brownlee, 2001). Prior to the 20th century medical treatments, such as purging and bleeding, were largely ineffective, what did work is trying to associate the disease with an action, or exposure as well as sanitation and quarantine, were relied on to control disease and Public health measures that sought to limit these exposures were societies’ most successful tools for staying healthy (Salinsky, 2002). I really think that is the only way to approach a pandemic situation. The US only has 2.6 Beds per 1000 people so any run on the hospitals would overwhelm them immediately, the government would have to step in and construct tent hospitals to attempt to cope with the situation (Peterson-Kaiser, 2017).
Health Emergency Ethical Questions, since it will likely take the state to control individual behavior the state must justify limitations on the liberty of individuals and groups or they might not cooperate (The Hastings Center, n.d.). In a health emergency one has to also look at distributive justice, namely fair allocation of drugs, medical personnel, etc. In the news as I type one has to look no further than Brooklyn New York in a predominantly Ultra-Orthodox Jewish area and the measles outbreak. New York City health department has circulated leaflets, tried to ban unvaccinated children from attending school, and fine parents 1,000 USD for unvaccinated children who catch the measles to no avail the outbreak continued there have been 285 confirmed cases since the outbreak began in the fall; 21 of those cases led to hospitalizations, including five admissions to the intensive care unit (Pager & Mays, 2019). The Mayor Mr. de Blasio said on Tuesday that the city would fine or even temporarily shut down yeshivas that did not abide by the measure (Pager & Mays, 2019). This is a fascinating view at a small outbreak and the ineffective measures that were put in place, due to the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish population not listening to their Rebbe’s this becomes a civil rights and liberty issue about practicing ones religion without state involvement. This quote says it all “As an example of this ruling, Rabbi Moshe Isserles (known as the Rema), one of Judaism’s outstanding halachic decisors, writes that when a plague breaks out in a city, the inhabitants of that city should not wait for the plague to spread. Rather, they (with some exceptions) are obligated to try and flee the city at the onset of the outbreak” (Sefaria.org, n.d.).
Brownlee, S. (2001, October 29). Under Control. Retrieved from https://newrepublic.com/article/92195/bioterrorism-epidemics-anthrax
The Hastings Center. (n.d.). Disaster Planning and Public Health. Retrieved from https://www.thehastingscenter.org/briefingbook/disaster-planning-and-public-health/
Pager, T., & Mays, J. C. (2019, April 10). New York Declares Measles Emergency, Requiring Vaccinations in Parts of Brooklyn. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/09/nyregion/measle”¦
Peterson-Kaiser. (2017, April 21). The U.S. has fewer acute care hospital beds per capita than many comparable countries. Retrieved fromhttps://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart/u-s-fewer-acute-care-hospital-beds-per-capita-many-comparable-countries/#item-start
Salinsky, E. (2002, April 3). Public Health Emergency Preparedness: Fundamentals of the “System”. Retrieved from https://www.nhpf.org/library/background-papers/BP_Public_Health_4-02.pdf
Sefaria.org. (n.d.). Shulchan Arukh, Yoreh De’ah. Retrieved from https://www.sefaria.org/Shulchan_Arukh,_Yoreh_De’a”¦
