Ethics, epidemiology, and the role of ethics experts

Abstract

This paper presents and advocates a conception of medical ethics and illustrates it with some examples drawn from epidemiology. It focuses on the following two problems: In what sense can there be, and are there, ethics experts? And what role ought they to play, particularly in ethics committees? The author contends that there are experts on ethics in the senses defined in the paper but argues that it does not follow from this that the problems ethics committees are dealing with should be decided by these experts. The same goes for moral problems in health care, medical research, and health care policy generally. Thus it is possible to acknowledge the existence of experts or specialists on ethics without giving up certain basic democratic values in a pluralistic society. The main bulk of the paper was presented at a conference arranged by The Council of Europe and Statens Medicinskt-Etiska Råd in Stockholm, 8–9 April 1994.

Key Words:

• Epidemiology
• Ethicists
• Ethics
• Ethics committees
• Experts