Naming the Patient: Partner Notification and Congenital Syphilis

AbstractUrgent public health problems often compel Public health professionals into situations where individual rights and population health are seemingly in conflict. Legal actions that impact an individual’s behavior may be ethically justified, but the exercise of authority alone, despite being legal, may not always be the best option. Public health interventions are more effective when practitioners have gained an individual’s trust and compliance becomes voluntary. Cooperation, not confrontation, at the individual and at the community levels, is as necessary as authority. Applying an ethical framework in the case of partner notification (PN) for sexually transmitted disease intervention supports the process of relationship-building between the practitioner and the client and leads to more successful disease intervention and prevention, promoting public health, and improving trust between local health departments and the communities they serve.