Balancing Public Health and Personal Liberty

1414 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The origins of public health in the 19th century

Public health practice in the nineteenth century mainly focused on sanitary reforms such as clean water, efficient sewage system, garbage collection and disposal, fumigation practices and clean housing facilities. This was mainly attributed to the filth theory which was widely accepted during that time. These sanitary measures were necessary to keep the infectious diseases such as smallpox, cholera and typhoid under control so as to prevent their epidemic outbreaks. However, in the early twentieth century, the advent of germ theory shifted the focus of public health from sanitary reforms to the laboratory. This changed the outlook of public health officials leading to alterations in the treatment procedures of the disease which were now concentrated mainly on the elimination of bacteria causing the disease. (Rosen, G.,1993) A very good example to support this change is the stand taken by the officials to eliminate typhoid fever during the end of the nineteenth and the early twentieth century. Since typhoid had been established as a water- and food-borne systemic bacterial infection, officials mainly concentrated on sanitary reforms to curb the disease. Though these efforts considerably reduced the number of cases of typhoid fever, they could not completely eliminate the disease. With the increase in bacteriological studies in the early twentieth century, it became evident that healthy people could carry the Salmonella typhi bacteria in their excreta and could cause the spread of typhoid. These individuals were termed as “healthy carriers” because though they appeared healthy, they could still cause the disease to spread. (Leavitt, J.W.,1992) Mary Mallon infamously known as “Typhoid Mary” was identified as the first healthy carrier... ... middle of paper ... ... Retrieved from http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdf/10.2105/AJPH.2004.055145 Jones, M., & Bayer, R. (2007) Paternalism and its discontents: motorcycle helmet laws, libertarian values, and public health. Am J Public Health;97(2):208-17. Knowles, J.H., (1977). The Responsibility of the Individual, Daedalus;106;57-80. Leavitt, J. W. (1992). “Typhoid Mary” Strikes Back Bacteriological Theory and Practice in Early Twentieth-Century Public Health. Isis, 83(4), 608-629. Mariner, W. K., Annas, G. J., & Glantz, L. H. (2005). Jacobson v Massachusetts: It’s Not Your Great-Great-Grandfather’s Public Health Law. American Journal of Public Health, 95(4), 581–590. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2004.055160 Rosen, G. (1993). A History of Public Health. Johns Hopkins University Press. Parmet, W. (1985). AIDS and quarantine: the revival of an archaic tradition. Hofstra Law Review 13: 53-90.

Show More
Related

  • Cholera By Charles Rosenberg Summary

    1534 Words  | 4 Pages

    Charles Rosenberg’s article Cholera in the nineteenth-century Europe: A tool for social and economic analysis evaluates the impact of epidemics on society and the changes that ensue as a result. It is Rosenberg’s view that most economic historians overlook the overall importance of epidemics by focusing primarily on economic growth. Rosenberg’s article aims to bring a more human approach to the Cholera epidemic while showing its potential to affect every aspect of society (453). Rosenberg believes epidemics are an event that show the social values and attitudes towards science, religion and innovation at that particular moment in time (452). His thesis for the article begs the question, what was needed at that time for the culmination of all

    Read More

  • Public Health and Nineteenth-Century Literature

    3115 Words  | 7 Pages

    Initially, physicians at this time were not equipped to handle the serious epidemics that were arising out of the poor health conditions of the time. They argued over the epidemics' origins, the appropri...

    Read More

  • The Epidemic Streets By Anne Hardy Summary

    1310 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Epidemic Streets: Infectious Disease and the Rise of Preventive Medicine, 1856-1900, written by Anne Hardy. Her book basically foretells the advancement in the examination of mortality and morbidity versus these factors as medical innovations began taking shape. “For many years the decline in the death rates from the common infectious diseases which began in the 1870s was attributed to the new science and technology of public health” (p .1) Mrs. Hardy exhibits true detective skills as she collects and uses a vast array of medical records as her supporting evidence. Her focus is on communicable diseases and their specific behavior in early 19th century London from childhood all the way through adulthood. “If we look at the eight major diseases and their behaviour in the years 1850 to 1900, two sets of distinctions can be made. One is between the diseases which principally affected adults and the infectious diseases of childhood” (p. 290)

    Read More

  • The Right to Privacy

    1867 Words  | 4 Pages

    Douglas, J. “Opinion of the Court.” Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479 (1965). Ed. D.

    Read More

  • Essay On The Sanitary Era

    931 Words  | 2 Pages

    One lesson to be learned through the sanitary era is that it is remain persistent in the desire for change in public health reform and policy. Realizing that change, particularly when it affects a great number of people, may take time, and will require a great amount of evidence before it is considered just, calls for adjusting to the affected population. In addition, we live in an age where access to most information is not difficult to obtain. In the nineteenth century, Chadwick and Snow could perform studies and suggest changes directly to those in charge with little awareness on the part of the public. Today, many public health policies that are sought to be implemented are made aware to the public, and as such, an opinion is formed soon after a change is encouraged by attempting to encourage a development in public health. In short, the sanitary era can teach present-day public health that what may be seen as an obvious source of preventable disease may not be seen that way to the general public, and keeping in mind to have patience in the attempt to develop new policies and variations in the perceived normal lifestyle of the everyday

    Read More

  • Marbury V Madison

    1352 Words  | 3 Pages

    Marbury v. Madison has been hailed as one of the most significant cases that the Supreme Court has ruled upon. In this paper, I will explain the origins and background in the case, discuss the major Constitutional issues it raised, and outline the major points of the courts decision. I will also explain the significance of this key decision.

    Read More

  • Substance Abuse and Addiciton: A Very Brief History

    1644 Words  | 4 Pages

    The first revolution of substances in the early 19th century brought diseases under control with the use of vaccines. These substances/vaccines helped convince the public that medicine was capable of producing drugs with powerful and selective benefits.

    Read More

  • Cleanliness In The Nineteenth Century

    880 Words  | 2 Pages

    Living arrangements in the nineteenth century were crowded and filthy causing unsanitary living conditions which were prone to breed bacteria and disease, particularly cholera. The most common means of communicating cholera has been through unclean water. One of the most important methods of protection against the spread of disease is through cleanliness, such as maintaining personal hygiene, preparing meals in a sanitary space and avoid overcrowding by having an appropriate amount of space to conduct your daily living with separate living spaces for livestock. Cleanliness was precisely what was missing in Russia, the United States and in England in the nineteenth century. Cholera ravaged territories and placed unforgettable and untreatable fear within those who knew its name. Medical technology, specifically, microbiology and the development of bacteriology as a science was in its early stages as misconceptions replaced science. The common folk, government officials and medical professionals, a bacterium was an unlikely cause of cholera. Preconceived ideas and misconceptions reproduced faster than the bacterium Vibrio Cholerae could multiply in the intestinal canal of its victim. During the health response to cholera, with the help of John Snow, society learned the disease is spread by a bacterium that passes from the sick to the healthy, not by other inclined beliefs such as miasmas. John Snow’s work accelerated the once stagnant beliefs and ideas of society in the nineteenth century and pushed government officials to support epidemiologists in rationalizing their

    Read More

  • Essentials To Public Health Ethics

    1246 Words  | 3 Pages

    Public health is a multitudinous field which draws from various different facets of knowledge. The concept and field of public health is one that cannot be defined simply in black and white terms. Instead, public health remains in a state of gray. This is due to the fact that many of the actions and precautions that public health officials enact are beneficial to some groups, yet detrimental to others. Public health officials work at all levels, including the federal, state, and local level. These officials discuss and enact health-related policies that are implemented in order to protect the community’s health and prevent illness, disease, injury, and even death. Therefore, public health officials confer and discuss numerous decisions and

    Read More

  • Polio Vaccination Research Paper

    406 Words  | 1 Pages

    Although many diseases are now treatable and preventable, there still have et been people who struggle with them such as Asiatic Cholera which affected a major part of

    Read More

  • A Medical Revolution

    1563 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the spring of 1918, the first wave of one of the deadliest influenza pandemics began plaguing its victims (Peters, ix). Over the span of three lethal waves, the pandemic claimed approximately forty million victims, eradicating nearly twenty percent of the entire world’s population, or about one out of five individuals (Peters, ix). To make matters more dire, the ill-suited medical community was exceptionally unprepared for such a wide-scale pandemic: Doctors had very basic tools, knew little about diseases, and had no experience with vaccinations or prevention (Peters, 1-5; “The 1920s: Medicine and Health: Overview”, n.p.). People blindly faced the epidemic, relying on folk remedies such as consuming wine, drinking antiseptic, and adapting nudist lifestyles to face the sickness that could kill within hours (Peters, 47; “Medicine ads of the 1910s”, n.p.). Therefore, the accountability of the 1918 Great Pandemic was placed heavily on the medical community’s shoulders (Peters, 43). After the Great Pandemic, the public and the medical community realized the fact that changes needed to happen in order to prevent such a catastrophic pandemic in the future (Peters, 44). Despite the obstacles the pandemic caused and the fact that it left the medical community debilitated, the medical community miraculously started flourishing by inventing new technologies, diagnostic processes, remedies, and preventative methods in the 1920s (Scott, n.p.; “The 1920s: Medicine and Health: Overview”, n.p.). The 1920s marked the turning point of modern-day medicine as it transformed art into a science that renovated and saved society.

    Read More

  • Causes And Effects Of Vaccines

    1002 Words  | 3 Pages

    in the United States. There were numerous diseases spreading in the 1900’s and people was

    Read More

  • Importance Of Human Right To Health

    2195 Words  | 5 Pages

    The human right to health means that everyone has the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, which includes access to all medical services, sanitation, adequate food, healthy working conditions, and a clean environment. (“What is the Human Right to Health and Health Care”, n.d.). Health should be a human right and should have access to all people. It will also show that all human beings are treated equally. Many people ask this question is Health a human right? Should people have given access to human right? I believe that health should be a human right because it provides quality of life, encourage equity, provide prevention and awareness and eliminate discrimination among people.

    Read More

  • What Is The Importance Of Public Health

    796 Words  | 2 Pages

    Although public health was beneficial, it was disapproved by many people. Because public health aimed at improving the overall health of people, many people believed it was against Darwinism. According to the article Eugenics and Public Health in American History, “Many eugenicist regard disease as nature’s way of weeding out the unfit.” Moreover, they believed that improving sanitation, hygiene, and medicine would interfere with natural selection, allowing the weaker people to survive. Public health officials concluded that reductions in illnesses were due to their “new preventative techniques based on bacteriology and immunology, form water filtrations to vaccinations” (Pernick). There was a section in the same article that I found interesting, it discussed that the theory that tuberculosis was hereditary was disproved yet, eugenicists still believed it was hereditary, regardless of the new information or

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Public Health

    1363 Words  | 3 Pages

    The World Health Organization (WHO), defines public health an “all organized measures (whether public or private) to prevent disease, promote health, and prolog life among the population as a whole” (n.d.). Although it seems as a relatively new term, the Romans were actually the ones that developed public health. They believed that cleanliness in the city would actually lead to good health. Therefore, they developed sewers, water aqueducts, and large public baths to encourage personal hygiene and increase the health of all its citizens (Kumar, 2007). Since then, once governments were established, society placed the “responsibility on leaders to develop public health policies and programs in order to gain some understand and causes of diseases

    Read More

More about Balancing Public Health and Personal Liberty

Open Document