Thursday, November 14, 2019 - 12:00
Humanities Center
The Center for Ethics
Research Lunch/Talk
Gill Andrews
Doctoral Candidate, English Department
Lehigh University
A Care Ethics for Infectious Futures: Triangulating Intergenerational Ethics, Shared Decision-Making Practices, and Public Education Measures to Tackle AMR
This paper, developed at Yale’s Sherwin B. Nuland Institute in Bioethics, explores potential ways to involve patients more actively in the ethical decision-making processes surrounding impending antibiotic and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). AMR is predicted to kill 10 million people a year by 2050, and is exacerbated by 47 million inappropriate antibiotic prescriptions written yearly in the US alone. Bioethicists have debated how best to address over-prescription, with scholars like van Esch (2018) advocating for shared decision-making models as an alternative to paternalistic antibiotic stewardship measures. However, Bakhit et al (2018) note that even in collaborative contexts, AMR and its ethical implications are rarely discussed. This paper addresses several ways for patients to become more informed, active stakeholders in the ethics of AMR when considering antibiotic treatment. Specifically, it argues that shared decision-making models are enhanced by, and necessary because of, their ability to integrate discussion of ethical frameworks (particularly Randall’s 'Future Care Ethic'), but must be supported by public engagement projects which address the ethical aspects of AMR. As every decision about antibiotic use is an ethical decision, we must consider measures to reduce antibiotic over-prescription which can support the rights and responsibilities of patients to autonomous and informed ethical decision-making.
Gill Andrews is a doctoral candidate in the English department at Lehigh University. Her research interests focus on health humanities, bioethics, and horror studies. She is currently exploring the unique ability of horror narratives to not only expose our fears surrounding medicine, but also provide an imaginative space for exploring bioethical debates.