The public health officer should recommend that the concert be cancelled. Even though this might generate a lot of hatred and controversies, the public health should act in such a way that demonstrates his professional integrity. If he decides to support the concert and there are repercussions such as an outbreak of influenza, the council may incur a lot of expenses in trying to contain the situation. This would further increase the financial stress of the council. In addition, if the public health officer recommends that the concert takes place without adhering to the NPHA rules, this would indicate that the public health officer acted to satisfy people without taking into consideration of the effect that it would have to the community. Ideally as a public administrator you have to be held accountable for your actions. As Cooper (73) notes ethical accountability must prevail above all other decisions.
Since the issue of the concert is an ethical issue, certain criteria have to be employed when deciding the best course of action to take. Legally, the public health officer has a duty to seek what is best for the public in terms of health. In addition, the public officer has a duty to follow what his job demands of him in the administration of duties. An evaluation of all the facts should be done. Once you ensure that this are adhered to, the most important of all is to address the health concerns that may affect the attendees. From an ethical perspective, the decision whether to support the concert should be based on how the concert may affect the health.
The solution to me does not sound right since it introduces the concept of compromise. This situation might open other scenarios where the public health officer will need to compromise his position just to satisfy other persons. Once you decide to bend the rules for one situation you end up bending rules for other situations, which will bring more complications when making future decisions.
Work Cited
Cooper, Terry L. The responsible administrator an approach to ethics for the administrative
role. 6th ed. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2012. Print.
