Justifying public health surveillance: basic interests, unreasonable exercise, and privacy.
Surveillance plays a crucial role in public health and for obvious reasons conflicts with individual privacy. This article argues that the predominant approach to the conflict--relying on a conceptual distinction between research and practice--is problematic and then offers an alternative. It outlines a basic interests approach to public health measures and an unreasonable exercise argument, which sets forth conditions under which individuals may justifiably exercise individual privacy claims that conflict with public health goals. The view articulated is compatible with a broad range of conceptions of the value of health.
School of Library and Information Studies, Program in Legal Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.
Alan
A
Rubel
D016265:Conflict of Interest; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology; D018563:Disease Notification / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D024901:Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial; D006801:Humans; D009519:New York City / Q000453:epidemiology; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods; D018907:Privacy; D011634:Public Health / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends; D012042:Registries; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D014481:United States