Managing Medical Ethics and Legal Requirements in a Primary Care and Health Environment

One of the major areas of strength of the AMA Code of Ethics is the principle that outlines that the physician must “regard responsibility to the patient as paramount” (American Medical Association, n.d., par. 9). This principle outlines that importance of putting the patient first in all care aspects when working with a patient. Along with this, other principles set forth in the AMA Code of Ethics, while involving other aspects of care, state that the rights of the patient shall be acknowledged and followed during patient care. It is very important that healthcare codes of ethics are clear in defining that the patient needs to be considered first and foremost.

In this assignment you will practice what you have learned in chapters 5 and 7 in the Medical Law and Ethics textbook:

Medical ethics and legal issues have been a key topic in medical field for many years now. It is important for medical professionals to understand the importance of the way we care for patients, it is therefore important to be knowledgeable and aware of the medical ethics and legal issues that govern good patient care. Health care professionals must make decisions based on ethical and legal issues to performance their regular duties. However, Medical ethics is not only about avoiding harm to patients. It is rather a norms, values and principles (Ethical theories 2015). Therefore norms, values and principles are intended to govern medical ethical conduct. Ethics is defined as “a standard of behaviour and a concept of right and wrong beyond what the legal consideration is in any given situation”. In another words medical ethics is a discipline that used to handle moral problems coming out the care of patients. Law is another important discipline that often comes together with medical ethics. Law defined as a “rule of conduct or action prescribed or formally recognized as binding or enforced by a controlling authority”. Government imply law to keep the society running smoothly and to control behaviour that could threaten public safety. Medical professionals have to often prioritise these terms before making any clinical decision. The following findings will constructively emphasise on medical ethics, its

Clinical ethics are set of programs that are important part of healthcare organisation. These ethics ensure the rights of the patients are nicely looked after, use of safety nets , adherance to privacy regulations. Hence the ethical department provides . As employer the organisation needs to use good criteria for determining wages and salaries, to know how to make fair decisions about downsizing and to respond most appropriately to union organizing efforts and employee strikes . As a community service organisation it has particular responsibilties to the communities in the way it advertises , how it disposes of medical waste and the types of mergers it enters into. Thus law and order are equally a part of the healthcare organizations.Clinical

The Patient’s Bill of Rights directly impacts nurses because they need to understand the rights in order to successfully care for patients. For example, a nurse needs to have awareness of a patient’s right to refuse a recommended treatment. In this situation, the nurse is expected to respectfully answer to the patient’s wishes while informing them of why the treatment may be beneficial. Moreover, the Patient’s Bill of Rights has been expanded over the past

Ethics in healthcare is described by Monteverde (2014) as the ultimate goal of reflected practice, to promote moral behaviour with regard to shared ethical standards of healthcare professionals. It is the expectation of staff, and managers to ensure, that quality of care is provided in all situations around the clock in the healthcare settings. Governed by policies

The responsibilities delegated to employees of the higher organizations are involved and important. Consent is at the forefront of medical treatment and highly regulated to protect the patient’s rights and quality of care. Organizations is a vital role in developing and implementing the different aspects of consent. According to Darr (2011), “legally, consent must be voluntary, competent, and informed. The trinity of consenting medical treatment and ethics. There are different legal aspects that can affect consent such as living wills, advance medical directives and surrogate decision making. The organizational responsibility towards consent is quite simple. The complexity arises in the compliance and accomplishment of procedures in order to ensure consent is being obtained legally and ethically. According to Darr (2011), “At minimum, policies and procedures consistent with the organizational philosophy must be established for obtaining consent, and their application must be systematically monitored. If, as it should, the philosophy emphasizes patients' rights, actions and efforts to perfect those rights will be encouraged while actions

Practicing in an ethical manner is important in every profession. When I first thought about and began reading about managerial ethics, I immediately thought of how this can be applied to the medical field. In the healthcare, we are taught to always practice and treat patients ethically and with care. Not only that but also treat each other and our coworkers with respect. After reading this chapter of the text there were a couple of conclusions I was able to draw from regarding my own workplace experiences. Some of the managers that I have worked under have clearly portrayed some of the distinct views of ethics that were discussed in this chapter and have helped me to analyze the type of ethical views I tend to lean towards.

Chapter 14 discussed patient rights and responsibilities. “Patient rights may be classified as either legal, those emanating from law, or human statements of desirable ethical principles such as the right to be treated with dignity

Application of ethics in medicine and healthcare are becoming increasingly important as healthcare professionals are considered to be working inter-professionally, that healthcare providers from various backgrounds working collectively to produce high quality care plan.

The medical code of ethics is based on the Oath of Hippocrates. Hippocrates, a Greek physician, is knowns as the father of medicine. The Oath of Hippocrates requires physicians to hold in reverence for those who have taught them and to pass on their education knowledge to others. It further requires physicians to use extreme care, to revere their patients and the practice of medicine itself, and to regard it as an art. The oath is administered to those who are about to receive a medical degree (Gladwell, 2007).

This assignment is a part of the subject, (Ethical & legal Practice in Health Care PUB315) which I am studying in the 7th semester of Bachelors of Primary Health Care course conducted by

Principalsim defines four tenets to guide moral actions: Autonomy, Beneficence, non-maleficence and Justice. Much like the deontological view, the autonomy principle may favour a decision to issue AB’s certificate, to uphold the moral obligation for the respect of individual dignities. However, I argue this contrasts should be is overruled in consideration of the beneficence and non-maleficence] principles. Denial of the request acts within the best interests of the patient that is safeguard of AB’s life – which is in accordance with the beneficence principle. As well, similar to the the utilitarian rationale, I would contend that denial of AB’s request, is to “above all, do no harm” – in accordance with non-malefecence – that is, to prevent harm to the public. With appeal to utilitarianist theory, the prevention of harm to both AB and the public are of the greatest moral outcome, which demonstrates a principle-based ethical argument for AB’s denial of

You have done a wonderful job interpreting ethics. The application of ethics in the medical field is a must because many situations are in the gray area and require the use of ethics to make final decisions. Ethics are necessary to utilize on a daily basis when working with the public and fellow healthcare workers. In this litigious society, medical mal-practice suites are abundant, many people are looking to make money off of any negative action of the professional world. It is unfortunate for our generation because it causes our duties as medical professionals to become overly scrutinized against. In relation to living in a litigious society, I believe that as medical coders, we would need to follow the duty-based ethic first.

The patient has the right to considerate and respectful care. Patients want and deserve to be treated as an individual, as a human being, and as if they are the doctors own family member.