Medical Ethics As A Moral Compass

In today’s health care industry, mechanical restraints are often used to maintain patients’ behavior and ensure their safety when treating the elderly and the severely ill (Gatsmans & Milisen, 2006). There are many variations of mechanical restraints, but all are defined as “any device, material or equipment attached to or near a person 's body and which cannot be controlled or easily removed by the person and which deliberately prevents or is deliberately intended to prevent a person 's free body movement to a position of choice and/or a person 's normal access to their body” (Gatsmans & Milisen, 2006, p.

While the history of American medical ethics dates back four centuries (Baker, 2013), it is critical to differentiate between what was strictly medical ethics; the ethics between physician and patient, physician and physician, and physician and community versus bioethics: all of the aforementioned with the addition of scientific research involving human subjects “…in reaction to researchers’ exploitation of vulnerable populations, most notably the 399 African-American males deceived into serving as research subjects by the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) in its Tuskegee, a Syphilis Study”. (1932-1972) (Baker). Prior to the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, physicians, along with other medical professionals (midwives, nurses), traditionally rendered services based on a sizeable range of oaths and codes that aimed for just care and treatment of patients. The Belmont Report articulated not only what was morally outrageous about the Tuskegee Study, identifying that “Earlier American ideals of just treatment differ from those expounded in the Belmont Report” (Baker), but became the origination for bioethics. Baker expounds that social unrest and morally disruptive technologies furthered the exponential growth of as well as the recognition of the importance of the field of bioethics. Since then, the medical and research communities have understood the necessity of teaching and incorporating bioethics into the education of future practitioners of medicine and science but have not

The four principles of medical ethics include nonmaleficence, beneficence, autonomy, and justice. These principles were created by Beauchamp and James Childress because they felt these four were the building blocks of people’s morality. Nonmaleficence is to do no harm to others. Beneficence is to care or help others. Autonomy is to respect another’s wishes. These four principles relate to issues surrounding physician-assisted death in many ways. To begin, there are seven individual forms of PAD. They are the following; voluntary passive euthanasia, nonvoluntary passive euthanasia, involuntary passive euthanasia, voluntary active euthanasia, nonvoluntary active euthanasia, involuntary active euthanasia, and physician-assisted suicide. Passive euthanasia is an act in which the health care physician withholds treatment or surgery and the result is the patient’s death. An example of passive euthanasia is a cancer patient refusing treatment and the physician agrees with their decision, therefore the patient dies from the lack of intervention to treat their illness. Active euthanasia is an act in which the health care physician has a direct contact with the patient’s death due to the physician’s act of doing something to the patient in order for them to die. An example of active euthanasia is an injection of potassium chloride. Voluntary is when the patient is requesting assistance to die. Nonvoluntary is when the patient is not requesting assistance and their wishes are unknown

29. In your opinion what responsibilities, if any, does a physician or other health care practitioner have toward difficult family members or other third parties who interfere with a patient’s medical care?

Due to the nature of this essay, it is important to consider parts from both sides of the argument, as it provokes critical thinking on the matter and demonstrates how a paper of this kind operates. The very first argument from the Point’s side of view is concentrated around liberty and freedom that is the outcome of the free market: supply and demand. In short, the writer is asking why healthcare cannot obey the same rules of supply and demand as other services and goods do. That means all people need is to prioritize what they need and make money to obtain it and those who do not want it the same way have freedom to prioritize something else. The reason why healthcare cannot obey these rules, as the writer puts it, is the fact that it is “morally special” (P.3). One of the points that the writer uses in support of her opinion is The President’s Commission’s volume, analysis of which I find incredibly interesting from both legal and ethical points of view. “In the absence of health care people may not be able to live full lives in which they can enjoy a full range of opportunities.”(P. 4) This argument states there is a significant difference between opportunities a person with good health care system to back him/her up has and a person with no access to health care. However, this situation can also be analyzed from different perspective, such as a relatively healthy person with no genetic problems, with a relatively healthy life style ( no substance abuse, no smoking, overeating, normalized fitness system ) relies on healthcare system much less compared to a person with, as

At a time when patients’ health record could be accessed by almost everyone who cares for the patients, it brings to one’s attention the ideals proposed by Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, and the other philosophers and ethicists (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2015). One has to understand though, that in spite of the great headway that the Health Information Technology (HIT) has come to, there are certain worldviews on “basic values that remain unchanged, the standards for living out these values will take on new meanings as professionals confront new and different moral dilemmas brought on by the adoption of technological tools for information management” (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2015, p. 68).

Ethical standards for all healthcare professions include principles of informed consent, veracity, and beneficence to provide best care (Kornblau & Burkhart, 2012). However, the definition of best practice can still differ among patients depending on their diagnosis, age, personality, and personal culture. Best practice gets further complicated when the patient is a child. The law concerning medical decisions for children states that children are unable to make their own decisions soundly (Goldstein, 1977). A parent must stand in as the decision-maker giving consent to treatments. Parents have the right to establish and dictate the course of healthcare without interference by the state. Parents can choose to accept or decline treatments,

An ethical dilemma is based upon personal values that relay an action being good or bad with an end motive to perform an action rightfully or wrongly. In the medical profession each individual holds a responsibility to apply ethical standards to conduct an ethical practice. Frequently, nurses and physicians see withholding or not telling the whole truth of information is within their professional responsibility. It can be apprised that a patient can become perturbed if they are told more information than they may desire. Deception is mainly stated when a healthcare professional gives inaccurate information or withholds accurate information to mislead an individual (Teasdale & Kent 1995).

H., Foglia, M. B., Kivong, K., Pearlman, R., & Fox, E. (2015). How Do Healthcare Employees Rate the Ethics of Their Organization? An Analysis Based on VA Integrated Ethics® Staff Survey Data. Journal of Healthcare Management, 60(3), 169-184.

Many professions such as physicians, nurses, and lawyers establish and adopt a code of ethics. A code of ethics is general rules and principles set to establish trust with the public and other professionals. Trust that their profession has a core set of values that will be used in decision making, behavior, and protects people from devious acts that someone can benefit from. A code of ethics creates a high standard to protect the profession itself from compromising individuals and it also allows the profession to have an evaluation benchmark when needed. “Following a professional code of ethics can produce many benefits for the individual, the profession, and society as a whole” (Reynolds 54). The physician code of ethics is one of the most

On August 21, 1996, the U.S. Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The primary goal of the act are to improve the portability and continuity of health-care coverage in group and individual markets; to combat waste, fraud, and abuse in health-care insurance and health-care delivery; to promote the use of medical savings account; to improve access to long-term care services and coverage; and to simplify the administration of health insurance.

You did a great job with this week's discussion post. I agree with you that the scenario is risky and interesting and I think being in a medical field requires us to be extra careful on how to react to each and every situation. I have a similar experience when I was interning at a mental health center as a requirement for my associates degree. The place where I interned had patient who spoke my native language and they would approach me and ask me if I knew anything about their health. As it was unethical for me to disclose their personal health information, I tried explaining to them but then they would get mad at me. Even though I had empathy for them, I never did release any of their information and I tried to be away from them as much as

The Medical ethicist has been an issue in public policy and needs attention. The concept of relationship between individuals’ health and the government policy is a challenge; for a long time, the healthcare policy in this area was not helpful. The Public policy still short in helping eliminates the disparity among services to the elderly, disabled or less fortunate. Health care disparities have been prevalent among the general population; with access to necessitous preventative and mental health care services being narrowly available. The issue was addressed disproportionately in the public health care sectors; resulting in clear differences. Now going forward, what will be the underlying assurances reform for the vulnerable populations?

Professionals in every field are always confronted with some kind of ethical issues. It has however been noted that these ethical issues become high in magnitude and extent when public officials are involved. Due to the involvement of human life, an industry like healthcare holds ethics in highest regard. Even though these healthcare practitioners are highly trained to deal with issues of these kinds, their decisions can sometimes have a lasting impact on their professional and personal lives (Edwards 2009).

The essay will discuss the ETHICS IN MEDICINE : The Relationship Between Law and Medical Ethics: