Antibiotics and antibiotic resistance: what do we owe to each other?

Millar, Michael (2014). Antibiotics and antibiotic resistance: what do we owe to each other? University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

There is a tension between the need to use antibiotics to prevent adverse outcomes from infection, and a consequence of their use, which is antibiotic (treatment) resistant infection. Actions taken to control the spread of antibiotic resistant microbes, and constraints on the use of antibiotics both give rise to ethical tensions.

I consider the evaluative framework and the principles that might be used to decide a just distribution of burdens and benefits associated with the use of antibiotics.

Nussbaum specifies a list of capabilities. A minimum sufficiency of each capability is required for a life of human dignity. Nussbaum’s approach provides a richer framework for the evaluation of the distribution of burdens and benefits associated with the use of antibiotics than prevailing health economic, or prevalence of disease measures.

There are contexts in which we cannot assure a sufficiency of capabilities. I consider the potential for Scanlon’s contractualism to provide principles for deciding the distribution of burdens and benefits associated with the use of antibiotics under differing levels of resource constraint.

Finally I consider the influence of metaphor and analogy in the context of the human relationship with microbes.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):