Dr Ryan Essex1
1University Of Greenwich
Activism as it relates to health and healthcare have been remarkably common over the last 200 years. Such action was important in achieving improvements in sanitation throughout Europe in the 1800’s, and in agitating for birth control in the US, a fight that continues to this day. The last few years have witnessed an increase in such action; strikes, marches, sit-ins and civil disobedience. With the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic likely to be felt for decades to come, such action appears likely to continue into the foreseeable future. While such action has been remarkably common, it has received little attention from bioethicists; many fundamental questions remain. Drawing on a diversity of disciplines this presentation will introduce some key conceptual issues as they relate to activism/resistance and discuss its intersection with health and more traditional issues in bioethics. It will also discuss issues that relate to the justification of such action, for example, when might doctors be justified in resorting to civil disobedience and other coercive political action? In exploring these questions I will draw on data collected from healthcare workers who themselves have engaged in activism. I will go on to identify key areas for future research discussing how bioethics could benefit from greater engagement with these disciplines and in particular political science/theory in understanding health activism and its significance for bioethics.
Biography:
Bio to come