Ethical Preparedness for Health Policymaking and Implementation During Public Health Emergencies: The Role of Rapid Ethical Assessment

Scholars have called for ethical preparedness for public health practice and research to address the challenges of special ethical considerations under time and resource pressure during emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic. We propose the idea of a rapid ethical assessment (REA) that aims to provide ethical justifications and policy recommendations for a specific public health policy, which is necessary for the ethical legitimacy of health policymaking and implementation. We suggest that an REA task force be established and incorporated into the administrative procedure to perform an REA in the early, middle, and terminal stages of a policy proposed by the health authority and to determine to what extent the tradeoffs between values and priorities required by the policy are ethically acceptable. The REA task force's role is consultative, with the final decisionmaking power and political responsibilities falling on the health authority. The REA task force should adopt 4 substantial ethical principles: utilitarianism, equity, human rights, and solidarity. The REA task force would consist of a multidisciplinary team of experts and a group of representatives from those who would be affected by the proposed policy. The REA task force would operate with a 5-step procedure of (1) convening, (2) investigation, (3) determination, (4) reporting and communication, and (5) decision and reassessment. We use 2 real incidents in Taiwan to demonstrate how the REA task force could work to enhance the ethical acceptance of a policy.