Thread by @prof_goldberg

This is a fascinating response from Dr. Miller, from whose work I've learned much over the years!

Some thoughts:

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https://twitter.com/hastingscenter/status/1587516082625060864

I agree with Dr. Miller that the utility of ethicists in the #RoomWhereItHappens for public health emergency policy response ought not be assumed. That said, I strongly believe that an appropriately-trained ethicist can be helpful, at least in the following ways:

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(1) Trained ethicists often have facilitation skills, specifically as regards to complex normative and ethical problems unfolding in urgent or emergent contexts. Applied ethicists in practice almost never dictate or pronounce conclusion -- if they are practicing well IMO.

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Rather, ethicists can help facilitate and sometimes even mediate conversations & disagreements in ways that can help teams & communities identify key assumptions and value conflicts (2). This work is useful from a #ProceduralJustice perspective even if consensus is impossible

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Of course, there are lots of ways ethicists can detract from policy conversations during a public health emergency, but it's not clear to me why this would be a universal concern for almost any professional bkgrd (eg don't get me started on doctors w/o public health training)

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In the final paragraph of his blog post @hastingscenter, Dr. Miller poses some questions that perhaps shape his skepticism on the utility of ethicists in these contexts:

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Now on this point I completely agree with Dr. Miller. The vast majority of practicing bioethicists in the West are simply NOT public health ethicists. They typically lack much of a background in public and population health, let alone policy work associated w/ public health.

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Here, the solution is obvious: We should train more public health ethicists! And specifically policy and advocacy training in context of #PHEPR (public health emergency preparedness & response) ought to be a core part of this training ...

Thoughts?

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#PHEthx #PHLaw #Bioethics #PublicHealthEthics #PublicHealthPolicy #PolicyAdvocacy #PopulationLevelBioethics #PopulationLevelEthics #Medicalization #PublicHealth #PandemicEthx #PandemicEthics