Infectious Disease Ethics: Limiting Liberty in Contexts of Contagion

Infectious disease ethics is one of the fastest growing―and increasingly being recognised as one of the most important―topics in bioethics and public health ethics. Paramount among ethical issues associated with infectious disease are those that arise with conflict between the goal to promote individual liberty, on the one hand, and the goal to promote other legitimate social goals such as (equality or) utility in the way of public health, on the other. Authored by world leading figures in philosophy, bioethics, law, public health and medicine, the papers in this volume focus on such conflicts and, inter alia, illustrate the diversity of ways in which such conflicts can arise and offer carefully argued, creative solutions for addressing them. They cover a broad range of topics including ethical issues associated with pandemic planning, health workers’ rights and duties, vaccination policy, coercion and compensation, opt-out HIV testing, public health surveillance, and bioterrorism.