Health Affairs

Health Affairs, 25, no. 4 (2006): 958-967 doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.25.4.958 © 2006 by Project HOPE	New Online   Getting Health Reform Done   After the State of the Union   Incremental Reform   E-Health in Developing World   Most-Read Articles in 2009

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Preparedness

The Challenge Of Mandatory Evacuation: Providing For And Deciding For

Amy L. Fairchild, James Colgrove and Marian Moser Jones

Insufficient attention has been given to the ethical and legal questions surrounding mandatory evacuation in disasters and emergencies. We argue that mandatory evacuation orders entail a governmental duty both to provide for people and to decide for people: Government must trigger the provision of critical resources as well as vigorous and persistent efforts to persuade reluctant citizens to leave. Public health professionals, with their experience in weighing costs and risks in the face of uncertainty and balancing individual liberties with the need to protect the common welfare, offer a unique perspective that should be brought to bear in emergencies and disasters.

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