Expanding health justice to consider the environment : how can bioethics avoid reinforcing epistemic injustice?
Journal article
Pratt, Bridget. (2023). Expanding health justice to consider the environment : how can bioethics avoid reinforcing epistemic injustice? Journal of Medical Ethics. 49(9), pp. 642-648. https://doi.org/10.1136/jme-2022-108458
Authors | Pratt, Bridget |
---|---|
Abstract | We are in the midst of a global crisis of climate change and environmental degradation to which the healthcare sector directly contributes. Yet conceptions of health justice have little to say about the environment. They purport societies should ensure adequate health for their populations but fail to require doing so in ways that avoid environmental harm or injustice. We need to expand our understanding of health justice to consider the environment and do so without reinforcing the epistemic injustice inherent in the field of bioethics. This paper considers what work in philosophy related to the environment should be applied to help build that understanding and develops ideas about the healthcare sector’s responsibilities of justice to the environment. It first introduces the dominant multivalent environmental and ecological justice (EJ) concept in philosophy and each of its dimensions: distribution, participation, recognition and well-being. It then shows why applying that conception alone to broaden our understanding of health justice will reinforce epistemic injustice within bioethics. Drawing on EJ literature from the global South, the paper demonstrates that different ontological and experiential starting points identify additional EJ dimensions—power and harmony—and give rise to a nuanced understanding of the recognition dimension relative to the dominant EJ conception. The paper concludes by applying them to articulate healthcare sector responsibilities of justice to the environment, demonstrating they ground responsibilities beyond reducing its carbon emissions. |
Keywords | Injustice; Environmental justice; Carbon footprint; Epistemology; Greenhouse gases; Health care industry; Ontology |
Year | 01 Jan 2023 |
Journal | Journal of Medical Ethics |
Journal citation | 49 (9), pp. 642-648 |
Publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
ISSN | 0306-6800 |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1136/jme-2022-108458 |
Web address (URL) | https://jme.bmj.com/content/49/9/642 |
Open access | Published as ‘gold’ (paid) open access |
Research or scholarly | Research |
Page range | 642-648 |
Publisher's version | License File Access Level Open |
Output status | Published |
Publication dates | |
Online | 30 Jan 2023 |
Publication process dates | |
Accepted | 22 Dec 2022 |
Deposited | 20 May 2024 |
Additional information | © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. Published by BMJ. |
No commercial re-use. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/deed.en | |
Place of publication | United Kingdom |
https://acuresearchbank.acu.edu.au/item/90892/expanding-health-justice-to-consider-the-environment-how-can-bioethics-avoid-reinforcing-epistemic-injustice
Download files
Publisher's version
OA_Pratt_2023_Expanding_health_justice_to_consider_the.pdf | |
License: CC BY-NC 4.0 | |
File access level: Open |
32
total views37
total downloads2
views this month8
downloads this month