How infectious diseases got left out--and what this omission might have meant for bioethics

Bioethics. 2005 Aug;19(4):307-22. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8519.2005.00445.x.

Abstract

In this article, we first document the virtually complete absence of infectious disease examples and concerns at the time bioethics emerged as a field. We then argue that this oversight was not benign by considering two central issues in the field, informed consent and distributive justice, and showing how they might have been framed differently had infectiousness been at the forefront of concern. The solution to this omission might be to apply standard approaches in liberal bioethics, such as autonomy and the harm principle, to infectious examples. We argue that this is insufficient, however. Taking infectious disease into account requires understanding the patient as victim and as vector. Infectiousness reminds us that as autonomous agents we are both embodied and vulnerable in our relationships with others. We conclude by applying this reunderstanding of agency to the examples of informed consent and distributive justice in health care.

Publication types

  • Historical Article

MeSH terms

  • Bioethical Issues*
  • Bioethics* / history
  • Communicable Disease Control*
  • Communicable Diseases / psychology
  • Communicable Diseases / therapy
  • Communicable Diseases / transmission*
  • Confidentiality / ethics
  • Disease Transmission, Infectious / ethics*
  • Duty to Warn / ethics
  • Ethical Analysis*
  • History, 20th Century
  • Humans
  • Informed Consent
  • Patients*
  • Personal Autonomy*
  • Research Subjects
  • Social Justice
  • Social Responsibility*
  • Socioeconomic Factors
  • Treatment Refusal / ethics