| Abstract: | The place for personal responsibility within healthcare has been highly contested
within academic debate. Meanwhile, leading causes of death within the United
States have shifted to chronic disease as a result of lifestyle behaviours suggesting
the need for health promotion to take action. In this position paper, I
will argue that the less punitive element of personal responsibility implied by
health promotion is both ethically justifiable and beneficial as a means of empowering
the individual, population and healthcare system as a whole. Several
counter-arguments are presented and subsequently refuted: health responsibility
unduly places blame upon vulnerable populations; administration of negative
sanctions based on health responsibility is difficult; and actions detrimentally
affecting health are not certain to be autonomously undertaken by the individual.
Arguments in favour are then presented: a dependence of the population upon
the healthcare system has been created; empowerment is effective as the central
guiding principle of health promotion; and sensible care for oneself should
be a duty of citizens, which they are required to fulfill as the healthcare system is
not in a position to act as an unlimited resource. As such, health promotion must
continue to emphasize the importance of sensible health behaviour as a means
of empowering individuals through self responsibility. |