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Ethical Issues in Health Communications: Strategies for the (Inevitable) Next Pandemic

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Book cover Disaster Bioethics: Normative Issues When Nothing is Normal

Part of the book series: Public Health Ethics Analysis ((PHES,volume 2))

Abstract

Communications about a pandemic can be extremely difficult, especially during the early stages when the seriousness of an outbreak is not clear and when—as happened during SARS—the threat was not at first understood. It is especially important that health care workers receive the same information as the public so that the same message goes out in individual conversations as in news releases. Even when issues are not clear, the best policy is to be as transparent as possible, admitting there is uncertainty. Inevitably, there will be ethical issues: should names of individuals who are ill or die be released? Should homes with ill persons be quarantined and placarded? If medical personnel refuse to work—as some surveys suggest may happen—should this be made public? Would it be ethical to break the law, for example a law on privacy, if this is deemed to be in the public interest? May the interests of the state over-ride individual rights and, if so, does the public have a right to know this? Transparency is always the best policy because individuals cope best when they know the truth.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada

    Joseph Scanlon

Authors
  1. Joseph Scanlon
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Correspondence to Joseph Scanlon .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dublin City University, Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Dónal P. O’Mathúna

  2. Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland

    Bert Gordijn

  3. Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, Ireland

    Mike Clarke

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Scanlon, J. (2014). Ethical Issues in Health Communications: Strategies for the (Inevitable) Next Pandemic. In: O’Mathúna, D., Gordijn, B., Clarke, M. (eds) Disaster Bioethics: Normative Issues When Nothing is Normal. Public Health Ethics Analysis, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-3864-5_6

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