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Related Experiment Videos

Choosing Health and the inner citadel.

P Allmark1

  • 1Samuel Fox House, Northern General Hospital, Sheffield S5 7AU, UK. p.j.allmark@shef.ac.uk

Journal of Medical Ethics
|December 24, 2005
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

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The UK government's "Choosing Health" white paper, despite referencing informed choice, may justify paternalistic public health policies. This approach, rooted in a specific view of autonomy, could permit interventions for behaviors like addiction.

Area of Science:

  • Public Health Policy
  • Bioethics
  • Political Philosophy

Background:

  • Libertarian critiques of public health policies often cite paternalism.
  • The UK government's
  • Choosing Health
  • white paper emphasizes "informed choice" to counter these criticisms.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To analyze the philosophical underpinnings of "informed choice" in public health.
  • To determine if the "Choosing Health" white paper's approach is genuinely non-paternalistic.
  • To explore alternative ethical frameworks for public health.

Main Methods:

  • Philosophical analysis of autonomy and informed choice.
  • Critique of Kantian ethics in the context of public health.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Examination of public health strategies like deceptive advertising and addiction treatment.

    • Main Results:

    • The paper argues that the "informed choice" concept in the white paper relies on a Kantian view of autonomy.
    • This view can justify paternalistic interventions, including coercion and manipulation, to promote rational decision-making.
    • Public health policies may employ paternalistic tactics disguised as promoting informed choice, which libertarians would oppose.

    Conclusions:

    • The "informed choice" model in "Choosing Health" is compatible with paternalism.
    • Public health interventions may be ethically justified through means that libertarians would find objectionable.
    • Alternative ethical approaches may offer a more robust foundation for public health ethics.