Ethics

This collection of 11 case studies extracted from existing documents or research proposals is part of a larger project on ethics during a pandemic currently being undertaken by the National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy (NCCHPP), and is intended to contribute to one of our larger core objectives, which is to provoke reflection on the use of ethical analysis in public health practice and for the development of healthy public policy.

The general aim of this series of cases is to illustrate a wide range of pandemic and infectious disease control scenarios in which professional roles and responsibilities generate ethically complex situations. Covering issues related to the powers and duties of public health officials and health care providers, and designed to place ethical issues related to preparing and responding to outbreaks in practical contexts, the cases aim to assist in the development and application of moral reasoning through concrete examples. Suc…

This opinion relates to a project submitted by the National Public Health Director to amend the Regulation respecting the quality of drinking water of the Ministère du Développement durable, de l'Environnement et des Parcs (MDDEP – Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks) to include a mandatory minimum standard for fluoride of 0.7 mg/l for all Québec municipalities with populations of 5,000 or more.

Tooth decay and its consequences are a major public health concern affecting the entire Québec population. By way of illustration, tooth decay affects 42% of the province's kindergarten children. In addition, Québec children have 40% more cavities than their counterparts in Ontario and the United States. In Québec, dental treatment costs exceed $2 billion.

The fluoridation of drinking water is presented in the literature as one of the safest, most effective, economical and equitable ways of reducing tooth decay. It has a greater impact on disa…

This proposed health survey is in line with the updating of the responsibilities entrusted to the public health Director regarding the function of surveillance of the population’s health status and health determinants. In particular, under Section 43 of the Public Health Act (PHA), the latter is responsible for submitting the proposed survey to the CESP and for ensuring compliance with rules relating to the confidentiality and protection of personal information.

According to the new legislative safeguards stemming from the PHA (related to the updating of the surveillance function on the one hand and the role of the public health ethics committee on the other), since a proposed survey is one of the data sources that provides the information needed for the production of a surveillance plan, it should be directly linked to the latter. However, given that these measures have been implemented recently and work on the proposed survey has already begun, the CESP deemed the project…