Are There Characteristics of Infectious Diseases that Raise Special Ethical Issues?

Bioethics developed as a field at a time when infectious diseases were thought largely to have been conquered. As a result, paradigms of analysis in the field looked largely to diseases such as cancer or dementia that could be viewed as posing problems about individualized treatment. This article examines characteristics of infectious disease – communicability, acuity, and treatability, among others – that raise different issues for bioethics, or that press traditional issues such as confidentiality in new directions.

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Smith, Charles B. and Francis, Leslie P. and Battin, Margaret Pabst and Botkin, Jeffrey and Jacobson, Jay A. and Hawkins, Beverly and Asplund, Emily P. and Domek, Gretchen J., Are There Characteristics of Infectious Diseases that Raise Special Ethical Issues? (December 7, 2009). Developing World Bioethics, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 1-16, 2004, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1520157

Charles B. Smith

University of Utah ( email )

1645 E. Campus Center
Salt Lake City, UT 84112
United States

Leslie P. Francis (Contact Author)

University of Utah - S.J. Quinney College of Law ( email )

383 S. University Street
Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0730
United States

Margaret Pabst Battin

University of Utah - Department of Philosophy ( email )

215 South Central Campus Dr.
Carolyn Tanner Irish Humanities Building
Salt Lake City, UT 84112
United States
(801) 581-6608 (Phone)
(801) 585-5195 (Fax)