Bioethics in Health Policy Development: A Primer for Decision-Makers

Most commonly recognised as a close bedfellow of medicine and regulators of biomedical research, the field of bioethics has recently expanded its academic jurisdiction to include a growing role in decision-making processes within health policy contexts. From this expansion, health professionals and administrators are increasingly knowledgeable of the utility and necessity to incorporate ethical considerations in policy development. However, many of these professionals have difficulty defining the link between ethics and decision-making processes, and what role – if any – bioethicists play in the structuring of health policies. Written for a multidisciplinary audience, this article aims to help clarify these concepts by providing a readily tangible overview of ethical analysis in health policy. The discussion will define common ethical issues in health policy and how frameworks structured upon principles of ethics can guide policy development and aid the decision-making capacities of health professionals. The discussion concludes by describing the role of the bioethicist in this process as a professional that serves to translate knowledge between applied ethics and decision-making contexts in health. Upon reading this article, it is expected that health professionals, regardless of occupational background, will gain a better understanding of ethical issues in health policy development, and as such, the bioethicist will hopefully cease to be viewed as an odd bedfellow amongst policy-makers.