Defense Date

11-6-2018

Graduation Date

Spring 5-10-2019

Availability

Immediate Access

Submission Type

dissertation

Degree Name

PhD

Department

Health Care Ethics

School

McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts

Committee Chair

Dr. Henk ten Have

Committee Member

Dr. Gerard Magill

Committee Member

Dr. Joris Gielen

Keywords

Medical Ethics, Bioethics, Healthcare, Ethical, Analysis of Quarantine, Quarantine, Preventive Medicine, Public Health, epidemiology

Abstract

As a public health measure quarantine has both historical and contemporary significance both in the United States and abroad. On the surface it represents a low-cost, low-tech way in which the spread of disease can be mitigated as its core requirement is that those who may have been exposed to an infectious agent are kept away from those who have not been exposed to that agent for enough time to determine whether or not infection has been spread. This has been utilized for centuries with both limited questions and scattered, inconsistent, or impossible to achieve oversight and goals. In understanding this situation, it is imperative for the global healthcare community to begin both asking and answering questions relative to both how ethical and how effective quarantine truly is in a world which has become, and will likely remain, globally connected. In providing answers to these questions there are several interrelated aspects which have been explored. The factors include the broad role of quarantine in a globalized world, the public policies and legislation which govern the implementation of quarantine the increased and increasing risk of global epidemics and pandemics, the ineffectiveness of quarantines as they currently exist, and the ethical dilemmas which have been, and are currently, associated with quarantine implementation. This dissertation explores in depth the roles of each of these factors as they relate to both the previous and contemporary role of quarantine as well as its ethicality and efficacy. Utilizing extensive research in the fields of infectious disease, healthcare legislation and policies, bioethics, public and public health ethics, the researcher found that in exploring the nature of contemporary quarantine that it is neither wholly ethical or effective. As such there need to be significant changes made in order to ensure that future quarantines both in the United States and abroad are carried out in a manner that is both ethical for all participants as well as truly effective in working to mitigate the spread of infectious disease.

Language

English

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