Ethics can be explained as principles a society develops to guide decisions about what is right and wrong. Ethical principles that society has are influenced by religion, history, and experience of the people in the group. Meaning that ethics is based on guidelines we have learned while growing up, that helps us differentiates what is right and what is wrong. For example, some people think health care should be a human right as others think it should only be available to those who can pay for it. Each group of people is guided by the principles they believe in. Ethics in health care play a vital role every day. The practice of health care includes many scenarios that have to do with making adequate decisions when it comes to patient’s life. For the purpose of this paper, I want to explain the occurrence and some of the ethical concerns found in a case of an elderly patient, who believed in Curanderos and didn’t realize the harm she was doing in regards to her health by not taking her medications. This was a case I found in the book Ethics in Administration a Practical Approach for Decision Makers. The case is the following, Porter Sanders was the assistant administrator at a home health program. One day one of her best nurses, Emma Ray stopped by his office to discuss the concerns …show more content…
The practice of health care includes many scenarios that have to do with making adequate decisions when it comes to a patient’s life, and the way they are treated. Having an ethical code in all health care organizations is very important, because it helps health care workers with reaching a suited and ethical decision when it comes to the patient. In health care, patient will always be put first, and their autonomy will always be respected. Nevertheless, when there is a situation where a patient might be in harm, or might be making their condition worse because of the decisions they made. Health care workers will always be there to
Ethics are emplaced in us as adolescences. Ethics are a set of moral principles a person lives by. Ethics can be set by the environment around a person. Things can factor in such as their family, culture, and friends etc. Everybody has their different opinions of what ethic codes that are most important for one to follow.
CMA (AAMA) Core Values, American Medical Association Assistants maintains this living code of ethics document in order to help medical assistants best evolve with the changing landscape of healthcare. Medical Assisting Code of Ethics of the AAMA sets forth principles of ethical and moral conduct as they relate to the medical profession and the particular practice of medical assisting. The Medical Assisting Creed of the AAMA sets forth medical assisting statements of belief. Medical Codes of Ethics Numerous other professional organizations catering to healthcare workers also promote ethical behavior in the workplace by publishing standards of behavior.”
It examines and evaluates the decision making process integrating ethical principals. Advance practice nurses must be aware there are ethical consequences for decisions that are made. This core competency addresses the need for ethically sound solutions to be applied to complex issues. During this course ethical principles of decision making was addressed in the case studies. For example, a patient became pregnant and contracted a sexually transmitted infection from her estranged spouse.
All human service workers have their own particular inward esteem framework and set of ethics. Conflicts occur within the helping field on an external and internal level. Everybody who works in a human service field, or who manages other individuals in an expert or paraprofessional limit is liable to a code of morals. There are various formal moral codes normally set around expert associations, however now and again by law that apply to individuals’ specifically professional positions. This paper attempts to address issues of consent, conflict of interest, unethical behavior and confidentiality on an internal and external level.
Ethics of healthcare depends on 4 moral standards and how they are utilised; autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence, and justice. Autonomy, which means self-governance, is the rule for regarding the privileges of a person to settle on a choice for them self, and respecting that decision. In healthcare this implies regarding a patient's choice on treatments, regardless of the possibility that it could bring about damage or demise to themselves. Autonomy is about self-rule, control free, without impact or influence from any other person, and is tied in with making an educated and un-forced choice about their care and medicines, based from their qualities and inclinations. Alongside autonomy is the principle of justice, which incorporates reasonableness
* Risk to self or others * Rights of service-users and safety consequence * Differing priorities between stakeholders Health and social care workers as well as care takers can fall into different dilemma related to health and social care decision. One of the dilemmas is ethical dilemma. In this context dilemma must be encountered by health and social care providers and takers.
The ethical principle of autonomy provides for respect for the patient’s autonomy to make decisions and choices concerning their life and death. Respecting the patient’s autonomy goes against the principles of beneficence and non-maleficence. There also exists the issue of religious beliefs the patient, family, or the caretaker holds, with which the caretaker has to grapple. The caretaker thus faces issues of fidelity to patient welfare by not abandoning the patient or their family, compassionate provision of pain relief methods, and the moral precept to neither hasten death nor prolong life.
Nurses are faced with ethical dilemmas related to clinical issues, and disease and treatment decisions daily (Kangasniemi,
When faced with an ethical problem or issue in any career affecting societal concerns, I would use moral reasoning and the knowledge about ethical principles I learned in my assignments and courses to make an informed and moral decision when presented with an issue. In my courses at Ashford, I learned a great deal about ethics in the SOC 120: Introduction to Ethics and Social Responsibility course. From the academic knowledge I’ve gained through this course, I am able to apply the four ethical principles, autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice, as guidelines when faced with clinical decisions working in the medical field. In SOC 120, I was able to learn and research how ethics applies to healthcare, health professionals, and hospitals, which is essential for my career in health informatics, and as a pharmacy
Atul Gawande in his article “Whose body is it, anyway?” introduced couple of cases, which discussed a controversial topic, doctors dealing with patients and making important medical decisions. These are difficult decisions in which people might have life or death choices. Who should make the important decisions, patients or doctors? Patients don’t usually know what is better for their health and while making their decisions, they might ignore or don’t know the possible side effects and consequences of these decisions.
Life is a story full of chapters where we experience trials and tribulations in so many ways. As we may already be aware of, humans do not live forever. Life comes to an ending that is inevitable. Death is a difficult part of life to grasp. Furthermore, people have no control of how the end of life will take place.
The four core ethical principles that are called into question in the movie “Miss Evers’ Boys” are autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice. Autonomy refers to the right of the patient to function independently and the ability to self-direct. This means that patients are entitled to decide what will happen to them, and if deemed competent, they have the right to either consent to or refuse treatment. All nurses and healthcare personal would be required to respect the patient’s wishes, even if they do not agree with them. Beneficence is the core principle that refers to the act of ‘doing good’ and advocating for the patient.
Not only do the professionals have to decide on the immediate needs of their patients but also on their future. Ethics has increasingly become a required component of clinical practice. According to Ulrich et al. (2013) , many healthcare professionals suffer from stress-related disorders which originate in job duties like protection of patients’ rights, respect to autonomy, informed consent for treatment, and staffing patterns which are impacted by the increasing demand for clear ethical standards in their decision making process.
As a nurse, it is our duty and obligation to give the best optimal care to our patients. Therefore, it is also our duty to protect our patients from being harmed by sub-optimal care done by our fellow healthcare professionals. Therefore, ethical dilemmas arise when an ethical principle is breached, especially when there is potential harm to patients. CASE STUDY:
Ethical Issues in Healthcare There are many ethical issues facing health care at any time and it is impossible to say definitively which is the most pressing or the most important. Health care professionals are expected to base their practice on a set of ethical principles, including truthfulness, beneficence, nonmaleficence, justice, and confidentiality. Ethical issues can arise, however, when a l professional is called upon to act in opposition to personal values or in cases where the values of patient, health care worker, and sponsoring institution conflict. The following issues are presented in no order. Neonatal Ethics Neonates are babies within their first twenty-eight days of life.