Ethics in Health Care

Posted: September 9th, 2013

Ethics in Health Care

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Ethics in Health Care

1. The distribution of resources should be exercised with fairness and equality in mind. The allocation of health care in most hospital facilities is a controversial issue. This is because the underlying concepts surrounding health care define the method of distribution. Additionally, the concepts such as need, contribution, disease and health, should be in line with the facility goals and objectives. However, it is necessary to point out that the distribution of the goods and services should be performed in a way that preserves human dignity respective or irrespective of the facility’s goals.

2. a) Principle of Informed Consent

This is a concept regularly used in health care. It refers to the notion that the patient has to be adequately informed about the treatment prescribed and the uncertainty pertaining from their preference of treatment (Garrett, 2010:84). This value enables the patient or the persons responsible to make informed decisions that will not have an implication on the health care provider despite any error arising from the decision. Similarly, informed consent can also be derived as the person’s ability to make informed decisions during distribution of health care (Garrett, 2010:93).

b) Principle of Distributive Justice

The principle of distributive justice refers to the equal apportionment of resources and equal access to the same resources provided by health care providers. The principle asserts that society is mandated to regards the needs of an individual despite the differences arising from the definitions of disease between the affected individual and the society (Garrett, 2010:85). Moreover, distributive justice advocates that the needs of an individual are lesser than societal needs and as such, both should be in balance to avoid conflict (Garrett, 2010:92).

c) Principle of Human Dignity

The principle of human dignity states that every human being should be treated as a valuable being of the human society. The principle explains the way humans should be treated in hospital facilities. It advocates for the treatment of patients equally despite the severity of the pain or suffering or in the event of elongating life. The principle of human dignity can be determined by identifying the varied strengths and weaknesses of individuals to avoid isolation respective of their peculiar strengths and weaknesses since both are diverse (Garrett, 2010:93).

d) Principle of Subsidiarity

The principle asserts that individuals have the privilege to participate in the decisions that directly affect them. Since the society is comprised of people, the decisions made by higher levels of society without involving people limit the decision’s impact. In health care, the decisions involving the balanced distribution of resources should be adopted by all the groups involved. The patient, health care providers and the society have an impact on the health care accorded to an individual through their decisions (Garrett, 2010:96).

3. Regarding Community Hospital’s decision to reduce the time for the emergency room access as a cost saving measure, the decision is unethical. Foremost, it should be emphasized that involving all parties in making such a decision is necessary. Patients are the most crucial persons in any health care facility and thus their opinion matters. The principle of human dignity advocates that the lives of patients should be valued respective or irrespective of the health care provider’s goals and objectives (Garrett, 2010:89). Emergency care is essential since it is specifically designed for patients experiencing life-threatening situations that require immediate attention. The decision also infringes on ethics since moving the emergency room without consulting the outlook of patients who require using the room leads to crisis. Health care ethics assert that human dignity and patient sovereignty should be valued at all times. Furthermore, applying the principle of utilitarianism to emergency cases is detrimental to the face of hospital. Transferring the emergency patients to another hospital will only lead to overcrowding which will inevitably lead to increased mortality rates. Thus, the public image of the hospital will gain negative credibility leading to a decrease in the rate of patients and even drive away potential investors since nobody would want to associate with a hospital with a bad image. The decrease in the rate of clients and investors will eventually lead to the forced bankruptcy of the hospital causing it to suffer greater damages than if it were to continue availing emergency services. The emergency patients’ access to State Hospital’s emergency facilities will be limited. This is because State Hospital has its own indigent patients and thus referring more patients will increase the burden on the hospital. Furthermore, the underprivileged will not have access to the State Hospital facilities due to lack of cars and public transportation. Therefore, in order to solve such a problem, the health care community will need to include the allocation of the transportation resources to be handled by a committee comprising different members of the community and provide hospital resources such as ambulances during emergencies for the economically disadvantaged emergency patients. The Principle of Subsidiarity advocates that decision makers should involve every affected member of the society (Garrett, 2010:96). Thus, the health care professionals have the directive to organize the community to counteract misdistribution of resources since the distribution of resources affects all involved parties. Furthermore, the health care professionals have a mandate to avail solutions to the problem despite being limited in understanding the indispensable requirements of persons within a society (Garrett, 1990:89). Thus, health care professionals should be responsive to the individuals’ needs and desires and put them first to maintain a healthy environment

References

Garrett, T. M. (2010). Health care ethics: Principles and problems. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.