Develop in detail a situation in which a health care worker might be confronted with
Develop in detail a situation in which a health care worker might be confronted with ethical problems related to patients and prescription drug use OR patients in a state of poverty.
- Each scenario must be original to you and this assignment. It cannot be from the discussion boards in this class or any other previous forum.
- Articulate (and then assess) the ethical solutions that can found using “care” (care-based ethics) and “rights” ethics to those problems.
- Assessment must ask if the solutions are flawed, practicable, persuasive, etc.
- What health care technology is involved in the situation? What moral guidelines for using that kind of healthcare technology should be used there? Explore such guidelines also using utilitarianism, Kantian deontology, ethical egoism, or social contract ethics.
- Say how social technologies such as blogs, crowdfunding, online encyclopedias can be used in either case. What moral guidelines for using that kind of healthcare technology should be used there? Develop such guidelines also using utilitarianism, Kantian deontology, ethical egoism, or social contract ethics.
You should not be using any text you used in a discussion board or assignment for this class or any previous class.
Cite the textbook and incorporate outside sources, including citations.
Writing Requirements (APA format)
- Length: 3-4 pages (not including title page or references page)
- 1-inch margins
- Double spaced
- 12-point Times New Roman font
- Title page
- References page (minimum of 2 scholarly sources)
Expert Answer and Explanation
Ethical Problems in Healthcare
Issues of ethics are common in healthcare settings, mostly confronted by healthcare providers in care delivery. These challenges make healthcare delivery a challenge, especially when a nurse is caught between meeting the needs of the patient and the needs of the healthcare organization (Peter, 2018).
In this paper, I will develop a situation in which a healthcare worker is confronted with a problem that is ethical in the course of healthcare delivery, articulate and assess the ethical solutions that can be established, identify the healthcare technology that is involved in the situation and the moral guidelines for using such technology, and establish how social technologies like blogs, online encyclopedias, and crowdfunding can get used in either case and the healthcare technology that can get used in such case.
Scenario
The situation in which a healthcare worker got confronted with an ethical problem that I identified is an emergency whereby the healthcare provider discovers that the patent needs an urgent organ transplant, but he does not have medical insurance. In this situation, the patient in critical care is a low-income earner and cannot pay for the necessary medical procedures. The hospital rules in this situation are that such procedures for treatment cannot be carried out on patients that do not have medical insurance or a way to guarantee that they can afford the payment required for such procedure.
In this case, the healthcare worker is caught in a dilemma between saving the life of the patient or following the guidelines provided by the hospital concerning the provision of certain care procedures to patients with medical insurance only. The healthcare worker is caught between fulfilling their duty to their patients, which is to provide care to the best of their ability and the organization’s rules.
Articulation and Assessment of Ethical solutions
Ethics of care in healthcare entail actions that show the patient that you care about their well-being. In the situation discussed above, an ethical solution based on care-based ethics would be to be emotionally supportive of the patient and help them find a solution to their problem (Moriggi et al., 2020).
For instance, the caregiver can share the information about his condition with their family and support them in working towards finding a solution to the problem by providing suggestions to the family on the options they can use like well-wishers or organizations that offer healthcare services to individuals that do not have medical insurance. Another way to show care would be to give hope to the patient to be optimistic about their situation, which would aid their healing process.
Rights-based ethics provide that a particular action would be considered to be ethically correct if it respects the rights of individuals (Lasalvia et al., 2019). In the situation above, the care provider will have to identify a solution that respects the rights of the patient. In this case, the patient has a right to access to care and a universal right to life. As such, the care provider has to protect his right to care to the best of their ability by ensuring that they get the best attainable standard of health.
In this situation, the ethical solution would be to treat the patient and ensure that they get basic treatment while trying to find a solution to their financial challenges, as the principles of nursing practice require that the patient’s rights are protected at all costs, as it is also the duty of the care provider to the patient. It may be challenging to conduct the organ transplant without the approval of the other healthcare providers in charge of the organization because the healthcare provider will have to obtain consent from the organization to perform such procedures. However, when it is a matter of life and death, the healthcare provider is under an obligation to protect the life of the patient.
Technology
The healthcare technology that will be involved in the situation discussed above, which entails a patient that needs a liver transplant for survival, will be the electronic health records which will be used in keeping a record of all the procedures of treatment that the patient gets provided by the healthcare provider (Curtis et al., 2018). It also keeps the health history and the records of the medications that have been administered to the patient while receiving care.
The moral guidelines that should be applied in the use of this technology include nonmaleficence in which the healthcare worker is required to remain competitive in using this technology and provide the best possible care. Another guideline is fidelity in which the healthcare worker is required to keep their commitment to the health of the patient based on the caring virtue. These guidelines fit well with the ethics of utilitarianism, which focuses on consequences such that the healthcare worker has to provide care that amounts to the best possible care to the patient.
Social Technologies
The social technologies that will be used in this case include social networking sites like Facebook, Instagram, and other internet sites to get support for the patient in terms of helping raise the necessary funds for them to be able to afford the required procedure for their survival. These sites can be used to appeal to well-wishers to help with the current situation and the government to provide ways through which low-income earners can be able to access critical care.
The internet will, therefore, be used in advocating for the right to access care, which should be universal and available to everyone. The moral guideline for using the internet in this situation is based on the principle of justice, which requires that all patients be treated equally and in a fair manner (Small, 2019). It’s only just that every patient has access to the best quality of care. This is based on social contract theory, which is about how benefits should be distributed in society, and in this situation, it’s about the distribution of healthcare benefits and that everyone in society should have equal access to care.
Conclusion
The above discussion presents an analysis of an ethical problem that healthcare providers can be faced within the delivery of care. They end up being caught in an ethical dilemma between doing what is right for the patient based on the ethical principles of nursing and abiding by the rules that have been set by the organization. While dealing with these ethical issues, they have to ensure that they provide the best possible care to the patient and ensure that the rights of patients are protected.
References
Curtis, J. R., Sathitratanacheewin, S., Starks, H., Lee, R. Y., Kross, E. K., Downey, L., … & Lindvall, C. (2018). Using electronic health records for quality measurement and accountability in care of the seriously ill: opportunities and challenges. Journal of Palliative Medicine, 21(S2), S-52.
Lasalvia, A., Ventriglio, A., Colizzi, M., & Bellomo, A. (2019). Stigma as the main obstacle in health care and human rights among people with mental disorders. A rights-based ethics approach. RIVISTA SPERIMENTALE DI FRENIATRIA.
Moriggi, A., Soini, K., Franklin, A., & Roep, D. (2020). A care-based approach to transformative change: ethically-informed practices, relational response-ability & emotional awareness. Ethics, Policy, and Environment.
Peter, E. (2018). Overview and summary: Ethics in healthcare: Nurses respond. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 23(1).
Small, P. M. (2019). Structural justice and nursing: Inpatient nurses’ obligation to address the social justice needs of patients. Nursing Ethics, 26(7-8), 1928-1935.
Alternative Expert Answer and Explanation
Ethical Problem
The state of poverty among the marginalized community and immigrants within the nation is alarming. There are various scenarios in which a healthcare worker might be confronted with an ethical problem that is concerning a patient’s state of poverty. Healthcare workers have a decree to always provide professional care and ensure improved patient outcomes (Kotsenas et al., 2018).
However, there is a scenario where a cancer patient in need of urgent medical care but do not have a cover to facilitate the financial obligation to the care. The ethical dilemma with the case is that the health care practitioner would be going against the principles of beneficence and nonmaleficence as they are ethically bound to offer services to an ill patient but due to lack of finances or an insurance cover to carter for the finances, the patient might not be able to be accorded the much-needed care.
Ethical Solutions
Finances are crucial to the attainment of quality services from any healthcare institution. Cancer patients are at the mist risk as they suffer from a chronic illness and if not treated, accelerates the dying process and have excruciating pain to the person. One of the main solutions to the issue of finances for chronic patients is the provision of subsidies by the government. Policies regarding subsidies to patients that have to undergo occasional radiation can be beneficial to help attain patient care.
There is also the capacity to have state-owned cancer centers where patients can make use of the ACA through Medicaid and Medicare (Griffith, Evans, & Bor, 2017). There can also be the option to have little to no tax on medical equipment and technologies that are used for the treatment of cancer so that medical care can be affordable for the poor. Some solutions are in line with care-based ethics. The nurse and other healthcare practitioners can also ensure that the condition of the patient is not life-threatening before withdrawing all the services required for survival.
Patient safety is important and advocacy for affordable care and other alternative financings can help the patient in acquiring funds for the medical practice. The solutions both from the side of the government and from seeking additional help are based on persuasiveness.
Health Care Technology
Social media on one of the technologies that can be involved with this solution. Promotions of hashtags and trending the need for the affordability of medication are essential to acquire a better response. Running posters on social media such as Facebook and Twitter can aid in sourcing for funding that can be used to pay for the services.
The moral guideline for using the technology requires patient privacy and only make public information necessitated by the patient (Ayala, & Alarcon, 2020). The guidelines for using technology can be focused on the social contract of ethics where people can come together to help one in need through sponsorship or financial aid for them to acquire.
Moral Guidelines in Social Technology
Social technologies such as blogs, online encyclopedias, and crowdfunding can be used to create awareness for the need for medical aid and to source funding to facilitate the medical process. Through the application of utilitarianism, it can be possible to come up with guidelines where people see helping the needy acquire medication as a common good.
The initiative can help seek medical attention and help meet the financial obligations required for medical care. through the provision of assistance to other people when in need can be viewed as moral and can be reciprocated when one is also in need. (Michalsen et al., 2020) The reciprocity of assistance cements the ideology of utilitarianism and is a firm guideline to enabling care services to people in need.
References
Ayala, R., & Alarcon, B. (2020). The social contract and health care in Chile. The Lancet, 396(10255), 882-883.
Griffith, K., Evans, L., & Bor, J. (2017). The Affordable Care Act reduced socioeconomic disparities in health care access. Health Affairs, 36(8), 1503-1510.
Kotsenas, A. L., Arce, M., Aase, L., Timimi, F. K., Young, C., & Wald, J. T. (2018). The strategic imperative for the use of social media in health care. Journal of the American College of Radiology, 15(1), 155-161.
Michalsen, A., Vergano, M., Quintel, M., Sadovnikoff, N., & Truog, R. D. (2020). Epilogue: Critical Care During a Pandemic–A Shift from Deontology to Utilitarianism?. In Compelling Ethical Challenges in Critical Care and Emergency Medicine (pp. 157-166). Springer, Cham.
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FAQs
What are the top 5 ethical issues in healthcare?
Ethical issues in healthcare are complex and multifaceted. The following are five prominent ethical concerns in the field:
- Patient Autonomy:
- Issue: Balancing the right of patients to make their own decisions regarding medical treatment with the obligation of healthcare providers to ensure the best possible outcomes.
- Example: End-of-life decisions, informed consent, and the right to refuse treatment.
- Confidentiality and Privacy:
- Issue: Protecting patient information and maintaining confidentiality while ensuring that necessary information is shared among healthcare professionals for effective and coordinated care.
- Example: Electronic health records, data breaches, and disclosure of sensitive information.
- Resource Allocation:
- Issue: Distributing limited healthcare resources such as organs, vaccines, and medical interventions fairly and justly.
- Example: Organ transplantation, triage during public health emergencies, and access to expensive or scarce treatments.
- End-of-Life Care:
- Issue: Addressing the ethical dilemmas surrounding decisions about withdrawing or withholding life-sustaining treatments, and the management of pain and suffering at the end of life.
- Example: Euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, and advance care planning.
- Justice in Healthcare:
- Issue: Ensuring fair and equitable access to healthcare services, taking into consideration socioeconomic factors and avoiding discrimination.
- Example: Healthcare disparities, access to affordable healthcare, and the impact of social determinants of health.
What barriers and challenges are there in resolving ethical and legal problems in healthcare?
Resolving ethical and legal problems in healthcare can be challenging due to various barriers and complexities. Here are some key barriers and challenges:
- Diverse Perspectives and Values:
- Barrier: Healthcare involves diverse stakeholders, including patients, families, healthcare providers, administrators, and policymakers, each with different values, beliefs, and perspectives.
- Challenge: Finding common ground and consensus on ethical and legal issues when there are conflicting values and cultural differences.
- Rapid Technological Advancements:
- Barrier: Advances in medical technology often outpace the development of ethical and legal frameworks, leading to uncertainties in areas such as genetic testing, telemedicine, and artificial intelligence.
- Challenge: Keeping ethical guidelines and legal regulations up-to-date with rapidly evolving healthcare technologies.
- Resource Constraints:
- Barrier: Limited resources, including financial constraints and shortages of healthcare professionals, can create challenges in providing optimal care and meeting ethical standards.
- Challenge: Balancing the ethical imperative to provide high-quality care with the practical constraints of resource scarcity.
- Complex Regulatory Landscape:
- Barrier: Healthcare is subject to a complex web of regulations and laws at local, national, and international levels, leading to potential conflicts and confusion.
- Challenge: Navigating and harmonizing the multitude of legal requirements while ensuring ethical practices and patient rights are upheld.
- Resistance to Change:
- Barrier: Resistance to change within healthcare systems, whether from healthcare professionals, institutions, or regulatory bodies, can impede the implementation of new ethical guidelines and legal frameworks.
- Challenge: Overcoming resistance and fostering a culture that embraces continuous improvement and ethical advancements.
- Inadequate Education and Training:
- Barrier: Insufficient education and training on ethical principles and legal regulations for healthcare professionals may lead to misunderstandings or lack of awareness.
- Challenge: Enhancing education and training programs to ensure that healthcare professionals are well-equipped to navigate ethical dilemmas and legal complexities.
- Public Awareness and Engagement:
- Barrier: Limited public awareness and engagement in healthcare ethics and legal issues may hinder the development of policies that reflect societal values.
- Challenge: Promoting public awareness, involvement, and understanding to ensure that healthcare policies align with the needs and values of the communities they serve.
