Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Medical practice and ethics
Medical practice and ethics
Medical practice and ethics
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Medical practice and ethics
Medical ethics is focused on a single patient or family where public health ethics is focused on an entire population or group of people. Conflict may arise when the good of one patient does not meet the good of the entire population or the entire group that the one person belongs to. Public health emphasizes the greater good of larger numbers of people where medical ethics is focused on just one. The principle of justice plays an important role in both medical and public health ethics. Justice is the core of public health ethics and is associated with the equality of opportunity, equity of access, or equity in benefits (Williams & Torrens, 2008). Public health serves the entire population; thus it is focused on equity among various social …show more content…
On the other hand, in public health ethics, autonomy is the right to privacy, and freedom of actions as long as those choices do not result in harm to others (Williams & Torrens, 2008). So in essence, in the medical world, people have the right to do whatever they want to do but when it has the potential to be harmful to more than just them; public health steps in to stop the process. In medical ethics, beneficence is the process of the physician doing no harm and promoting the welfare of and health of his patients; generally doing good. In public health, beneficence is the overall goal of public health policy and practice, however, it doesn’t focus on one single patient but rather the entire population. This removes the individual rights factor from consideration and makes it more about societal needs and rights. An example would be; If a patient doesn’t have health insurance; they are considered private pay in the medical world. In public health there typically isn’t a charge for services and if there is it is based on a sliding scale that is based on income. Those who cannot afford the cost of the office visit in a medical office, often do not get seen. This could result in a conflict in the principle of beneficence and nonmaleficence that are a huge part of medical ethics. On the other side of this conflict is the
Not all cases is patient autonomy the most important thing to respect and honor. There will always be situations where Medical paternalism is justified. Justifiable paternalism in a medical perspective is prolonging patients’ lives allowing them to exercise their autonomy. Failing to respect a patient’s treatment requests or denials is a violation of the autonomy at that point in time during their illness. While the previous statement is true, the medical professional is violating a patient’s future autonomy. For this reason, medical professionals have the right to act paternalistically, therefore medical paternalism is justified by means of future autonomy and obligations to promote patient
According to Terrence F. Ackerman, as of the 1980s the American Medical Association had to include the respect for a person’s autonomy as a principle of medical ethics (Ackerman 14, 1982). This includes having the physician provide all the medical information to the patient even if the information could cause negative implication onto the patient. The physician is also expected to withhold all information of the patient from 3rd parties (Ackerman 14, 1982). Although it is seen as standard in today’s world, in
Wilson , James G. S., “Rights”, Principles of Health Care Ethics, Second Edition, eds. R.E. Ashcroft, A. Dawson, H. Draper and J.R. McMillan. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 2007. pp. 239.
Within public health, the issue of paternalism has become a controversial topic. Questions about the ethics of public health are being asked. The role of ethics in medical practice is now receiving close scrutiny, so it is timely that ethical concepts, such as autonomy and paternalism, be re-examined in their applied context (Med J Aust. 1994). Clinically, patients are treated on a one on one basis, but public health’s obligation is toward the protection and promotion of an entire population’s health. So, based on this difference, the gaping questions targeting public health now becomes, under what conditions is it right to intervene and override an individuals’ autonomy?
The four major ethical principles in health care are: Autonomy – to honor the patient’s right to make their own decision (the opposite is paternalism - the health care provider knows best for the patient), Beneficence – to help the patient advance his/her own good, Nonmaleficence – to do no harm (many bioethical controversies involves this principle), and Justice – to be fair and treat like cases alike. All 4 principles are considered to be in effect at all times. In theory, each is of equal weight or importance. Ethical responsibilities in a given situation depend in part on the nature of the decision and in part on the roles everyone involved play.
The four ethical virtues of health care must be shown, compassion, discernment, integrity and trustworthiness. Respecting a person’s autonomy understanding and acting on the belief the people have the right decision to make decisions and take action based on their beliefs and value systems. The ethical issues that would be encountered will be to treat each person with passion and respect regardless of sex, race, and religious preference. The environment has no human rights violations, sustains nursing ethical
Justice is a complex principle, it assures that distribution of benefits and resources are fair among all patients. It also ensures equality throughout the hospital. Within the ethics principal Justice, are five conceptualizations, to each; an equal share, according to need, according to effort, according to contribution, according to merit. An example of to each, an equal share would be, if there were four patients in need of a certain type of ankle brace but the hospital only have three that could be used, they could not just give 3 patients and brace and let one go without because that would be injustice. So the doctors would have to order a new brace and wait until all 4 have arrives or the doctors would have to find a different solution for all four patients to be equally benefited. An example of to each, according to need, would be there are 2 patients, one patient is able to walk with a walker and the other patient is able only able to move around in a wheel chair, the doctors would have to decide if it would be more of the a justified beneficial need to get the patient who can use a walker one and a wheelchair for the other
Autonomy is a concept found in moral, political, and bioethical reasoning. Inside these connections, it is the limit of a sound individual to make an educated, unpressured decision. Patient autonomy can conflict with clinician autonomy and, in such a clash of values, it is not obvious which should prevail. (Lantos, Matlock & Wendler, 2011). In order to gain informed consent, a patient
Ethics in the medical field are very important and should be taken seriously. As a medical professional you will tested daily on making the best choices, using good judgment and being morally responsible for your actions. There are nine principles in the Code of Medical Ethics that in general make up the primary code. As a medical professional you must always consider what is in the best interest of the patient. Code of medical ethics of the American Medical Association, (2012). When determining the proper “Patient-Physician Relationship, the relationship between the patient and physician is based on trust and gives rise to the physicians’ ethical obligations to place a patients’ welfare above their own self-interest” Code of medical ethics of the American Medical Association, (2012).
In this diverse society we are confronted everyday with so many ethical choices in provision of healthcare for individuals. It becomes very difficult to find a guideline that would include a border perspective which might include individual’s beliefs and preference across the world. Due to these controversies, the four principles in biomedical ethic which includes autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and justice help us understand and explain which medical practices are ethical and acceptable. These principles are not only used to protect the rights of a patient but also the physician from being violated.
Gedge, E., & Waluchow, W. (2012). Readings in health care ethics (2nd ed.). Toronto, Ontario: Broadview Press.
In some way, public health is seen as a modern philosophical and ideological perspective based on ‘equity’ and aimed to determine inequitable in society. It seen as a ‘science’ and ‘art’ in the sense that it deals with the cause of disease, treatment of illness as well as it involves laboratory experiments, intervention and promoting of health of the population. Winslow (1920, p. 23) defined public health as ‘the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting physical health and efficiency through organised community efforts for the sanitation of the environment, the control community infections, the education of the individual in principles of personal hygiene, the organisation of medical and nursing service for early diagnosis and preventive treatment of disease, and the development of social machinery which will ensure to every individual in the community a standard of living adequate for the maintenance of health. On the other hand, it is ‘the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through organised effort of society’ (Acheson, 1998; in Cowley S, 2002, p. 261).
Jecker, N. (1990). Integrating medical ethics with normative theory: Patient advocacy and social responsibility. 11(2), 125-139.
Resources have always been inadequate for food, economics and healthcare and all scarce resources are rationed in one way or another. Healthcare resources can be in the forms of medicine, machinery, expensive treatment and organ transplantation. For decades, allocation of healthcare resources in an equitable manner has always been the subject of debate, concern and analysis, yet the issue has persistently resisted resolution. Scarcity of resources for healthcare and issue of allocation is permanent and inescapable (Harris, “Deciding between Patients”). Scarcity can be defined in general, in emergency and in crises as well as shortage of certain kind of treatment, medicine or organs. As a result of scarcity of resources, and some people may be left untreated or die when certain patients are prioritized and intention of is that everyone will ultimately be treated (Harris, 2009: 335). Allocation of limited resources is an ethical issue since it is vital to address the question of justice and making fair decisions. Ethical judgments and concerns are part of daily choice in allocation of health resources and also to ensure these resources are allocated in a fair and just way. This paper will explore how QALYs, ageism and responsibility in particular influence the allocation of healthcare resources in general through the lens of justice, equity, social worth, fairness, and deservingness.
Garrett, T. M., Baillie, H. W., & Garrett, R. M. (2010). Health care ethics: Principles and problems (5thed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.