Discussion Question #2 Week 1
How might you apply ethical philosophies and principles that summarize what you perceive to be the top five ethical issues challenging health care delivery today?
What I perceive to be the top five ethical issues challenging health care delivery today are the following:
* Avoiding conflicts of interest
* Balancing profits with quality of care
* Equal treatment of all patients
* Managing decision making capacity of the elderly and very young patients
* Addressing nurses moral distress when providing care with minimal benefits
The ethical philosophies and principles that would summarize these issues for me would be a combination of the Natural Law ethical theory, and the Utilitarianism ethical theory. These theories would summarize the top five ethical issues I perceive to be a challenge in health care today.
Describe at least two ethical principles discussed in this week's reading material. Apply those principles to two examples ...view middle of the document...
Bedside nurses face distress in this situation because they may not feel that they are helping or even assisting the patient in any way, the patients they are caring for are not getting any medical benefit from the care they are receiving. This distress can bring down the morale of the staff and the nurses. In this case scenario I believe that the Utilitarianism Theory can be applied to resolve the ethical challenge. The utilitarianism theory of ethics takes into consideration that the act should be done for the greatest good for the greatest number, in this case the ethical dilemma can be resolved by putting into action the greater good for all parties involved.
Another ethical challenge the health care industry faces today is when the facility must weigh profits with quality of care. The health care industry is like any other business and must produce revenue in order to keep operating. This causes an ethical challenge when the hospital must provide the same quality of care to all patients regardless of their financial situation. How does the facility face this ethical challenge? I think that the best etical theory to apply in this case would be the Natural Law ethical theory. The Natural law theory states that the principles of good or bad can guide human actions toward fulfillment or flourishing. In this case scenario the facility can weigh the good and bad and decide what is in the best interest of the patient, this then causes another ethical challenge. How can a facility continue to operate without receiving enough revenue?
References:
Murphy, Mark, "The Natural Law Tradition in Ethics", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2011 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2011/entries/natural-law-ethics/>.e, particularly human nature
Sinnott-Armstrong, Walter, "Consequentialism", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2011 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL=<http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2011/entries/consequentialism/>
Garrett, T. M., Bailie, H. W., & McGeehan, J. f. (2010). Health Care Ethics: Principles and Problems (5th ed.). Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection Database.
