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Professionalism and ethics
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In a career that revolves completely around an individual, the patient, and their best interest, what should one do when faced with a situation between making an ethical and completely honest decision and one that “compromises the truth in service to what may be the greater good”? In the article, The Heat is On (Nancy R Kirsch, 2013), Tara, a physical therapist at Metropolitan General Hospital, is challenged with such a scenario. In the following, details of Tara’s situation will be described, a few principles of the Code of Ethics for the Physical Therapist which may offer guidance for Tara will be given, as well as what I think Tara should do, or what I would do if I were in a similar situation.
Tara is working with 83-year-old widower, Chester Davenport, who is scheduled to be released later in the day. Mr. Davenport is a positive man with not so positive living conditions. The bathroom in his apartment is too small to accommodate his walker, which is why Tara has been working with him; they have been working on cane safety. He lives on the third floor of a building that has no el...
Sim, J (1997). Ethical Decision Making in Therapy Practice. Oxford: Reed Educational and Professional Publishing Ltd. p.16.
For anyone who has ever worked in healthcare, or simply for someone who has watched a popular hit television show such as Grey’s Anatomy, General Hospital, House or ER know that there can be times when a doctor or health care provider is placed in extremely difficult situations. Often times, those situations are something that we watch from the sidelines and hope for the best in the patient’s interest. However, what happens when you place yourself inside the doctors, nurses, or any other of the medical provider’s shoes? What if you were placed in charge of a patient who had an ethically challenging situation? What you would you do then? That is precisely what Lisa Belkin accomplishes in her book “First Do No Harm”. Belkin takes the reader on
In the case of an ethical dilemma I would refer to the ethical decision making steps and then using the Occupational Therapy Code of Ethics to choose the best course of action. The dilemma I have witnessed in occupational therapy settings, and one I will probably encounter someday, is being asked to perform services outside of my licensure and scope of practice. The overlap between occupational therapy and physical therapy can be blurry, and sometimes parents will ask for services not within the occupational therapist’s scope of practice and doesn’t understand why they can’t just do it this time.
The case study regarding Sharon Duchesneau and Candace McCullough and their son Gauvin is a very complex scenario to try to analyze and figure out whether or not it was morally right for them to intentionally make their son born deaf. Deafness to some may be seen as a disability or handicap and to others may be seen as a cultural identity. There are a number of factors that are needed to determine whether it was morally justified what Gauvin’s parents had done. After reading the case study thoroughly and doing further research I have a strong opinion towards this situation and believe that it was morally wrong what Duchesneau and McCullough had done.
In the medical profession, doctors and nurses run into ethical dilemmas every day whether it be a mother who wants to abort her baby or a patient who has decided they want to stop cancer treatment. It is important for the nurse to know where they stand with their own moral code, but to make sure they are not being biased when educating the patient. Nurses are patient advocates, it is in the job description, so although the nurse may not agree with the patient on their decisions, the nurse to needs to advocate for the patient regardless.
As human beings, we are inundated throughout our lives with ethical dilemmas. While these difficult choices are challenging, those dilemmas associated with medical choices can be extremely problematic. Families and medical professionals must decide the fates of people every day. A medical scenario involving an elderly woman named Jamilah Shah will be referenced throughout the work. This essay will dissect the ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence, and justice, and how they help or complicate medical decision making.
Abortion (Deliberately removing a fetus or embryo before it can survive outside the uterus) is generally safe for the mother if it is done by a professional. However, like any medical treatment, it has the probability of going wrong - especially when it is done later in the pregnancy.
Healthcare professions have codes of conduct and ethics that address the issue of honesty and trust in relation to patient encounters yet truth-telling (or being honest) versus deception (or being dishonest) has been identified as an ethical issue in hospitals, particularly about diagnosis and prognosis disclosures. Dossa (2010) defines being honest or telling the truth as relating the facts as one knows them. Furthermore, Dossa (2010) states that deception can be an act of dishonesty but also can be without lies. In other words, forms of deception include not giving any information, not giving information of the truth, withholding information, selecting what information to give and not give, and giving vague information.
An ethical dilemma is a position where there is conflict between two options due to the value for each option being different but similarly important and morally correct (Ethics for Nurses, 2013). It is possible that is an ethical dilemma might arise in health care. For example, when the patient, family members and/ or medical team have different understanding of situation because they use different ethical principles. Ethical dilemmas are not easy to resolve possible to produce a simple, suitable solution because the ethical values are of equal important (Narrigan, 2004). Nurses must have the necessary skills to be able to deal with ethical dilemmas. They must be able to identify ethical dilemmas when they present as well as to consider relevant principles involved in the ethical dilemma and to identify the conflict between these principles. The nurse should be able to resolve the ethical dilemma in the best interest of the patient by making a decision that is legal and within the professional standards and instructions related to their nursing
• Furthermore, if a qualified healthcare professional does not possess a naturally ethical disposition, how does that individual improve their ethical standards to a point where it’s safe to allow them to work in a medical facility? • Is someone who’s truthful most of the time ethical? As for the last question, the answer is no; in the healthcare environment, individual who possess exemplary personal integrity tell the truth all the time, because lives depend on the actions of healthcare workers.
A health care professional should have a history of clear judgment and understanding because a discerning person will think rationally about a situation and without being influenced by other personal or political factors. A discerning person will be able to see what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, and in what specific way while including ethical considerations. Another imperative ethical character trait a health care worker needs to have is trustworthiness. To do the right thing for the right reasons and at the right time is important when making an ethical decision. The relationship between the caregiver and the patient is crucial in the health care industry. Integrity is another important issue that is based off of the individual’s core values and beliefs. A person that has integrity will, “walk their virtuous talk” (Kurtz and Burr, 2015). A patient will trust a health care worker more when they have integrity because they compromise their ethical principles to make the right decision. These virtues coincide with ethical principles in the health care profession and when they are faced with a moral dilemma, they will know what decision best fits that certain situation at that certain moment. There are three ethical philosophies that are used in the health care industry in the way decisions are
Ethics is an essential part of the nursing profession; However, it is the nature of each situation that determines which ethically moral judgements should be made. This essay will give further detail into the fine line that nurses and most healthcare professionals face in the workplace, it will address the nursing code of ethics and its impact on critical decision making. When faced with the challenges of making the right decisions, and determining if they are ethically professional or not, there is a thin line between right and wrong in nursing, and more often times than most can admit, that line can become blurred in order to save a patient’s life, or merely in order to protect our own. The work life of a nurse is characterized by not only
Imagine having the responsibility to choose the “right course of action” in a situation that presents with many different “right actions”. Nurses are faced with this responsibility often; and most times it is not an easy decision process. This situation is known as an ethical dilemma (CNA, 2008). Ethical dilemmas arise in a situation when there are equally compelling reasons for and against two or more possible courses of action, and where choosing one course of action means that something else is relinquished or let go (CNA, 2008). The purpose of this paper is to use the Canadian Nurses Association Code of Ethics (2008), and consider how my own personal morals and values can help guide me through solving ethical dilemmas and also how I, as a future nurse can deal with the negative effects that may arise after an ethical decision is made. Strengthening your moral agency and moral courage as a nurse is also important in the ethical decision making process in order to successfully solve and continue to be able
Conducting quality research requires the researcher to perform within both ethical and legal guidelines. “Ethics is the study of right and wrong” (Houser, J., 2012, pg.50). Ethics provide the avenue for decision making and are guided by the researcher’s integrity. Legal guidelines provide direction to the researcher by specifying what is required by law to conduct research. As a nurse researcher, it is an ethical duty to advocate for patients when incompetent, unethical or illegal practices are observed.
Ethics is the study of moral values and the principles we use to evaluate actions. Ethical concerns can sometimes stand as a barrier to the development of the arts and the natural sciences. They hinder the process of scientific research and the production of art, preventing us from arriving at knowledge. This raises the knowledge issues of: To what extent do moral values confine the production of knowledge in the arts, and to what extent are the ways of achieving scientific development limited due to ethical concerns? The two main ways of knowing used to produce ethical judgements are reason, the power of the mind to form judgements logically , and emotion, our instinctive feelings . I will explore their applications in various ethical controversies in science and arts as well as the implications of morals in these two areas of knowledge.