| Course | PHLT 8042 Public Health Ethics |
|---|---|
| Week | Week 9 |
| Paper type | Deliberation memo |
| Length | About 860 words, 5 pages |
| Format | Memo, APA 7 citations |
| School | Walden University |
| Program | PhD in Public Health |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for PHLT 8042 Week 9
Memorandum
To: Residents, families and essential caregivers at Brookside, Maple Ridge and Riverview long-term care facilities
From: County Health Officer
Date: Month Day, Year
Re: What is changing about visits for the next 14 days, why, and how to ask for an exception
Cover Note to the Board of Health
This memo goes to residents and families of three facilities with active influenza outbreaks. It is written in plain language and organized around the four conditions of accountability for reasonableness that Daniels (2000) proposed for limit-setting decisions: publicity, relevance, revision and appeals, and enforcement. I have not used those terms in the memo itself, but each section carries one condition as a commitment. Families experienced long, poorly explained visiting bans during the COVID-19 pandemic, and research since then documents the harm isolation did to residents (Levere et al., 2021). This memo is designed to show that these limits are different: short, specific, explained and open to challenge.
What Is Changing and for How Long
Starting tomorrow, and for 14 days, each resident may receive visits from one designated person at a time, at scheduled times, in the resident's room or a designated visiting area. Visitors will be asked about symptoms at the door and asked to wear a mask. Group activities in common rooms are paused. These limits end automatically after 14 days unless new cases appear, and we will tell you in writing if they are extended and why.
Some visits are not limited at all. Families of residents who are nearing the end of life may visit as often as they wish. Essential caregivers, people who regularly help a resident eat, dress or stay calm, may continue their usual visits. If you are not sure whether you qualify, call the number at the end of this memo.
Why We Are Doing This
In the past week, 23 residents and 9 staff across the three facilities have tested positive for influenza, and two residents have been hospitalized. Influenza spreads easily indoors, and older residents with chronic illness are at high risk of severe illness. Visitors can carry the virus in before they feel sick. Limiting the number of people entering each facility at one time, and asking about symptoms at the door, reduces the chance of new introductions while staff vaccinate, treat and separate sick residents.
These are reasons we hope you can recognize as reasonable even if you disagree with the decision. We considered stricter options, such as stopping all visits, and rejected them because isolation harms residents too. During the pandemic, residents in facilities with long visiting bans experienced more depression, weight loss and loneliness (Levere et al., 2021; Simard & Volicer, 2020). One designated visitor at a time keeps those connections while lowering the number of people coming in.
How to Ask for an Exception or Tell Us We Got It Wrong
If these limits cause a specific hardship for your family member, for example because two people share caregiving or because a resident becomes distressed without a particular visitor, you can ask for an exception. Call the facility's administrator or the county health department line below, and you will get an answer within one business day. If you disagree with the answer, you can ask the health officer to review it, and we will respond within two business days.
We will also review the limits themselves. If case counts fall, we will end them early. If you see a problem with how the limits are working, such as visiting times that do not fit working families, tell us, and we will consider changes. We will post any changes on each facility's front door and send them by mail.
What We Are Doing Inside the Facilities
Visiting limits are one part of the response, not the whole of it. Every resident and staff member who has not received this season's flu vaccine is being offered it now. Residents who test positive are receiving antiviral treatment, and many residents who have been exposed are being offered antiviral medicine to prevent illness. Sick residents are being cared for in separate rooms, and staff are being assigned so that the same people care for the same residents. We are telling you this because the visiting limits should be judged alongside these measures: they are meant to lower the number of new introductions while treatment and vaccination take effect, and they should be the first thing we lift once cases stop.
How These Limits Will Be Applied
Facility staff will apply the same rules to every visitor, and the exceptions above apply in every facility. No resident will be confined to a room as a result of these limits unless their own illness requires it. The health department will check with each facility every two days to make sure the limits are applied as described here and that exceptions are answered on time. Daniels and Sabin (2008) argue that people can accept limits they dislike when the process is open, the reasons are relevant and there is a real chance to be heard. That is the standard we intend to meet.
Contacts
County health department visiting line: [phone], answered every day from 8 in the morning until 8 at night. Facility administrators: Brookside [phone], Maple Ridge [phone], Riverview [phone].
References
Daniels, N. (2000). Accountability for reasonableness. BMJ, 321(7272), 1300-1301. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.321.7272.1300
Daniels, N., & Sabin, J. E. (2008). Setting limits fairly: Learning to share resources for health (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.
Levere, M., Rowan, P., & Wysocki, A. (2021). The adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on nursing home resident well-being. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 22(5), 948-954. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2021.03.010
Simard, J., & Volicer, L. (2020). Loneliness and isolation in long-term care and the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 21(7), 966-967. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2020.05.006
What the PHLT 8042 Week 9 instructions ask for
The ninth assignment usually asks students to write a communication explaining a public health limit to the people it affects, structured by a fairness framework such as Daniels's accountability for reasonableness. Faculty expect the reasons to be published in language the affected people can understand, to be reasons they could accept as relevant even if they disagree, to include a route for appeal and revision, and to be applied consistently. The best memos turn these conditions into commitments, with response times and contacts, rather than naming them. A short note to officials explaining how the memo meets the framework is often required. Exceptions for the most compelling cases, and evidence that lighter alternatives were considered, show the limit was chosen carefully. Three to four pages is typical.
Inside the PHLT 8042 Week 9 example
A cover note to the board explains the plain-language approach, maps each section to one of Daniels's conditions and cites evidence of harm from pandemic visiting bans. The memo itself opens with what is changing, one designated visitor at a time for 14 days, and the exceptions for end-of-life visits and essential caregivers. A reasons section gives case counts, explains how visitors introduce influenza and states that a total ban was rejected because isolation harms residents, citing studies of depression, weight loss and loneliness. An exceptions and appeals section gives response times and promises early lifting if cases fall. A section describes vaccination, antiviral treatment and cohorting inside the facilities, another explains uniform application, and contacts close the memo.
Reading the PHLT 8042 Week 9 rubric
Graders assess whether the memo would actually satisfy the people it restricts, not only whether it mentions the framework. Plain language, a clear duration and specific exceptions carry substantial credit. The reasons section earns marks when it explains the mechanism, acknowledges the harm of restriction and shows why a lighter option was chosen over a total ban. An appeal route with response times converts the revision condition into a real commitment. Consistency of application, and how it will be checked, should be described. The cover note earns credit when it shows the framework's role without burdening the families' version with jargon. Sources should support claims about isolation's harms. Respectful tone, recognizing families as partners, is part of the grade.
Common PHLT 8042 Week 9 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Deliberation memos go wrong when they read like policy documents. Write to the families, not about them. Say what changes, for how long and who is exempt, in the first paragraph. Give reasons they could accept even if they disagree, including why you did not choose a harsher option. Tell them exactly how to ask for an exception and how fast they will hear back. Explain what else is being done so the limit is not seen alone. Communications on other temporary limits read best when built on these four commitments.
Get a PHLT 8042 Week 9 example written to your instructions
Send the restriction or allocation decision under discussion, the Week 9 prompt and the rubric; a deliberation memo written to the people it constrains returns in 24 to 48 hours, the first one free. When an instructor wants a different audience, or a public forum script instead, the register changes to suit that listener.
More PHLT 8042 papers and PhD in Public Health samples
- PHLT 8042 Week 1: Trans Fat Harm Principle Post
- PHLT 8042 Week 2: Measles Isolation Ethics Case
- PHLT 8042 Week 3: Kass Framework Fast-Food Zoning
- PHLT 8042 Week 4: Contact Tracing Data Reply
- PHLT 8042 Week 5: A1c Registry Justification Memo
- PHLT 8042 Week 6: Quarantine Siracusa Critique
- PHLT 8042 Week 7: Alcohol Sales Hours Burden Analysis
- PHLT 8042 Week 8: School BMI Law Rebuttal Essay
- PHLT 8042 Week 10: Helmet Law Versus Checkpoints
- PHLT 8042 Week 11: Tenant Cooling Case Paper
- PHLT 8040 Week 9: Septic Coalition Strategy Memo
- PHLT 8034 Week 9: Bottling Line Noise Control Brief
- PHLT 8032 Week 9: APA Results Tables
- PHLT 8006 Week 9: Dissertation Topic Memo
PHLT 8042 Week 9 questions, answered
Why address the memo to residents rather than officials?
Because the week asks whether the reasoning could be said to those it restricts, and the only convincing test is to say it to them. A memo written to a board can hide weak reasons in technical language. Writing for families forces your reasons into plain terms, where their strength or weakness shows immediately.
What is accountability for reasonableness?
It is the account Daniels developed with Sabin of what makes limit-setting decisions legitimate when people disagree about the right outcome: reasons made public, reasons fair-minded people could accept as relevant, a process for appeal and revision, and some means of ensuring those conditions hold. It fits any decision that denies some people something they want for the sake of others.
Can the memo include data on outbreak risk?
Yes, where it helps families understand the reason, and it should be sourced. Keep it interpretable: a sentence explaining why shared spaces spread respiratory infection more readily than private homes is more useful to this audience than a table of rates. Your memo succeeds when its reader understands, not when it looks technical.
Where can I find a free PHLT 8042 Week 9 sample paper?
This page reproduces the complete Week 9 memo to families explaining temporary visiting limits during an influenza outbreak, written around Daniels's four conditions, with a cover note to the board.
Why not stop all visits during an outbreak?
Isolation harms residents. Studies from the pandemic found more depression, weight loss and loneliness in facilities with long visiting bans, so one designated visitor at a time keeps connection while lowering introductions.