The Affordable Healthcare Act (AHA) in the US, which is similar to other countries’ Universal Healthcare Systems (UHS), has been in the news again recently. From the beginning the AHA has been passionately contested and debated from its introduction on the Senate floor to the challenge in the Supreme Court that it was unconstitutional. The reforms that the AHA started in 2010, such as Health Insurance Companies can not deny someone with a preexisting condition, or the recent troubles of the Health Insurance Marketplace website, AHA is something of a hot button issues that has US citizens deeply divided on. At the heart of this divisive issue is Universal Healthcare something that should be provided by government for its citizens or is it the responsibility of the individual. If we look at the issue of Universal Healthcare through the lens of Platonic Theories we can better define what is universal good for us as citizens and what may not be. What we ultimately determine as universal good, is it really the best course for the nation?
The topic of Universal Healthcare is a very large and complicated subject matter that incorporates everything from social-ecomonical status of patients to euthanasia. A topic such as this, the key to understanding the many different and wide-ranging questions this topic poses is to approach it with an understanding of Moral Philosophy. A better understanding through asking questions, using rational, and reasoned thought, Ethics teaches us what “ought” to happen or what is morally good in that situation. For the purposes of this exercise, we will look at just the idea of a Universal Healthcare System with in a nation or state as something that is either a good goal or not a worthy goal.
We learn of P...
... middle of paper ...
...Y benefit the Health Insurance Companies, Insurance lobbyists, and Politicians. Taking what the story of Gyges of Lydia (Republic Book II. 259d) teaches us, philosophy can describle how people ought to act. “Until philosophers rule as kings in their cities, or those who are nowadays called kings and leading men become genuine and adequate philosophers … cities will have no rest from evils…”(Republic V. 473c). When Kings and leading men, also known as Company CEOs, policy makers, and Congressmen, think and act as philosophers, society will always deal with these injustices.
Works Cited
Bhandari, D. R. "Plato's Concept Of Justice: An Analysis." J.N.V. University 15 August 1998: 20-25.
Frede, Dorothea. "Plato's Ethics: An Overview." The stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Fall Edition (2013).
Rawls, John. A Theory of Justice. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
In the medical ethics case study given to me, Justin is new nurse at a hospital and has become great help to the other employees but he makes mistakes often. When it comes to medical ethics, it is important to do what you know is morally correct. We all want to be good Christians and make the right decisions but sometimes those decisions will affect others negatively. We may not always act how we ought to but those decisions do affect who we are.
In conclusion three notions of justice developed in Book I of The Republics of Plato are outlined in On Justice, Power and Human Nature. Justice is viewed as telling the truth and paying debts, doing good to friends and harm to enemies, and the advantage of the stronger.
In recent years, the number of Americans who are uninsured has reached over 45 million citizens, with millions more who only have the very basic of insurance, effectively under insured. With the growing budget cuts to medicaid and the decreasing amount of employers cutting back on their health insurance options, more and more americans are put into positions with poor health care or no access to it at all. At the heart of the issue stems two roots, one concerning the morality of universal health care and the other concerning the economic effects. Many believe that health care reform at a national level is impossible or impractical, and so for too long now our citizens have stood by as our flawed health-care system has transformed into an unfixable mess. The good that universal healthcare would bring to our nation far outweighs the bad, however, so, sooner rather than later, it is important for us to strive towards a society where all people have access to healthcare.
Ethical principles in healthcare are significant to the building blocks of mortality. The principles are beneficence, autonomy, justice, and nonmaleficence. Although these principles can be certainly followed they can also be disregarded. Beneficence is a theory that assures each procedure given is entirely beneficial to that patient to help them advance within their own good. For example, There was a young girl, the age of 17. She had been being treated at a small private practice since she was born. She was recently diagnosed with lymphoma and was only given a few more years to live. Her doctors at the private practice who had been seeing her for years were very attached to her and wanted to grant this dying girl her every wish. They promised
America is known for democracy, freedom, and the American Dream. American citizens have the right to free speech, free press, the right to bear arms, and the right to religious freedom to name a few. The Declaration of Independence states that American citizens have the rights including “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” America promises equality and freedom and the protection of their rights as outlined in the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. But with all the rights and freedoms that American citizens enjoy, there is one particular area where the United States seems to be lacking. That area is health care. The United States is the only industrialized nation that doesn’t have some form of legal recognition of a right to health care (Yamin 1157). Health care reform in the United States has become a major controversy for politicians, health care professionals, businesses, and citizens. Those in opposition to reform claim that health care is not a human right, therefore the government should not be involved. Supporters of reform believe that health care is most definitely a human right and should be available to everyone in the United States instead of only those who can afford it, and that it is the government’s responsibility to uphold that right.
Albert Jonsen, the author of “A Short History of Medical Ethics”, covers more than two thousand years of renowned medical history in a mere hundred and twenty pages. He covers many cultural customs and backgrounds involving medical discourse, beliefs, and discoveries which have led to the very formation of the distinguished society we live in today. However, throughout this brief tour, Jonsen exploits the fact that even though there have been many cultural differences, there are a few common themes which have assimilated over the years and formed the ethics of medicine. The most prevalent themes of ethics presented in Jonsens text, are decorum, deontology and politic ethics. Decorum is referred to as both the professional etiquette and personal virtues of medicine. Deontology refers to rules and principles, and politic ethics expresses the duties physicians have to the community.
You might ask yourself what is Medical Ethics.Well Medical Ethics could many thing but mostly bad.It could rejection to health care at a hospitl by doctor that dosent want help you. Maybe it might be because of you rase, skin color, just because he doesn't feel like it.If you make the doctor mad he might deny and medical attention just because you made him mad. When becoming a doctor you take an oath, that oath states you treat all patients equally what gains the doctor the right to treat patients differently.
Hourani, George. Thrasymachus' Definition of Justice in Plato's Republic. 2. 7. Focus Publishing, 1962. eBook. .
Justice. What is justice? In this world where many people look out only for themselves, justice can be considered the happiness of oneself. But because selfish men do not always decide our standards in society, to find a definition, society should look at the opinions of many. Just as in the modern society to which we live, where everyone feels justice has a different meaning, the society of Plato also struggled with the same problem. In this paper, I will look into the Republic, one of the books of Plato that resides heavily on defining an answer to the meaning of Justice, and try to find an absolute definition. I will also give my opinion on what I personally think justice is.
Even during the worst economic downturn, the advantages of a universal health care system remain hidden from society. Instead, the adverse impacts continue to occupy the minds of many Americans. Misguidedly, citizens are repeatedly ensnared into ideological disputes inc...
Book 1 of Plato's Republic raises the question what is justice? Four views of justice are examined. The first is that justice is speaking the truth and paying one's debt. The second is that justice is helping one's friends and harming one's enemies. The third view of justice is that it is to the advantage of the stronger. The last view is that injustice is more profitable than justice.
One of the most commonly debated topics in recent American history has been that of health care. Would Americans be able to reap more benefits if individuals continue to be independent in their pursuits of health care, or would it be beneficial for all if the government introduced more regulations regarding health care, changing our system to resemble those of other developed countries? As more solutions are offered, it becomes harder for people to reach a consensus on the best way to approach this issue. Despite this, America must decide what system of healthcare will benefit the most citizens and improve the quality of life the most. It is becoming increasingly apparent that a universal healthcare system would be the most effective and
Physician-assisted suicide refers to the physician acting indirectly in the death of the patient -- providing the means for death. The ethics of PAS is a continually debated topic. The range of arguments in support and opposition of PAS are vast. Justice, compassion, the moral irrelevance of the difference between killing and letting die, individual liberty are many arguments for PAS. The distinction between killing and letting die, sanctity of life, "do no harm" principle of medicine, and the potential for abuse are some of the arguments in favor of making PAS illegal. However, self-determination, and ultimately respect for autonomy are relied on heavily as principle arguments in the PAS issue.
Plato's fundamental claim, in the Republic, is that justice is so great a good that anyone who completely embraces it is thereby better off, even in the face of the...
For Plato’s thesis – justice pays – to be validated, he has to prove two things, the first being that justice is inherently good. In