Provide your reflections and personal opinions as well as your recommendations
Review the following lecture:
Healthcare Ethics (Stem Cell Research)
Technological advances over the past few decades have today created medical possibilities without boundaries and also invoked nightmarish science fiction imagery beyond what was previously imagined.
Even its opponents have not denied the medical benefits of stem cell research. Stem cell research proponents cite the promise it holds for curing what are now incurable diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig’s disease, and multiple sclerosis, as well as spinal cord injuries (Pozgar, 2016). Opponents of stem cell research argue that this practice is a slippery slope to reproductive cloning and fundamentally devalues the worth of a human being.
The debate surrounding human embryonic stem cell research plays a crucial role in the culture wars. Those who embrace post-traditional morality see no ethical problem with the destruction of human embryos for research and therapies (Joseph, 2013). There are an estimated hundred million people worldwide who are afflicted by these medical conditions. As personalized medicine and patient stratification come to the fore and therapies are becoming more patient specific, important questions are being raised regarding whether conclusions gained from using a single genomic background in a drug screening assay are globally applicable (Minger, 2013). Stem cells are thought to hold the possibility of creating human organs, which will match the cellular structure of the organ recipient.
Opponents of stem cell research declare the use and destruction of life (or potential life) in the form of embryonic stem cells as unacceptable. Opponents of embryonic stem cell research draw a parallel to the experimentation on human beings in the World War II concentration camps. Because the embryo must be destroyed to obtain embryonic stem cells, and because many opponents of stem cell research equate embryonic stem cells with life, they conclude that such medical breakthroughs cannot ethically be obtained at the expense of human life. On August 9, 2001, President George W. Bush announced his policy on research involving human embryonic stem cells and proclaimed that federal funding would be allocated only to research involving human embryonic stem cell lines produced prior to his announcement (Yaniv, 2008).
Medical Ethics
Ideally, for a medical practice to be considered “ethical,” it must respect all the four of these principles: autonomy, justice, beneficence, and nonmaleficence.
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Autonomy
Description
Requires that the patient have the autonomy of thought, intention, and action when making decisions regarding healthcare procedures.
When Does the Ethic Come into Play: Example
A woman enters the emergency room with stomach pain. She undergoes a CT scan and is diagnosed with an abdominal aortic aneurysm, a weakening in the wall of the aorta, which causes it to stretch and bulge. (This is very similar to what led to John Ritter’s death.) The physicians inform her that the only way to fix the problem is surgically and that the chances of survival are about 50/50. They also inform her that time is of the essence, and should the aneurysm burst, she would be dead in a few short minutes. The woman is an erotic dancer; she worries that the surgery will leave a scar that will negatively affect her work; therefore, she refuses any surgical treatment.
Ideal Actions to be Taken to Observe or Conform to Ethic: As per the Example
The decision-making process must be free of coercion or coaxing. In order for a patient to make a fully informed decision, she or he must understand all risks and benefits of the procedure and the likelihood of success.
Justice
Beneficence
Nonmaleficence
Reference
Cases in Medical Ethics. (2005). Retrieved from https://www.scu.edu/ethics/focus-areas/bioethics/resources/cases-in-medical-ethics-student-led-discussions/
Ethical Issues in Healthcare Research
Ethical norms are so ubiquitous that one might be tempted to regard them as simple commonsense. On the other hand, if morality were nothing more than commonsense, there are so many ethical disputes and issues in our society.
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Presents information about the various healthcare topics and research that may be considered ethically dubious similar to stem cell research (e.g. abortion for young single females, use of placebos, neonatal and pediatric issues, research on placenta, etc.).
Adolescent Pregnancy
Example:
A fourteen-year-old requests termination of pregnancy.
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References:
Joseph, T. (2013). Human embryonic stem cell research: Its importance in the culture wars. Christian Bioethics, 19(1), 60–71. doi:10.1093/cb/cbt001
Minger, S. L. (2013). Developing technologies to unlock the therapeutic and research potential of human stem cells [Special issue]. New Biotechnology, 30(4), 378–380. doi:10.1016/j.nbt.2012.11.006
Pozgar, G. D. (2016). Legal aspects of health care administration (12th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett.
Yaniv, H. (2008). On presidents, agencies, and the stem cells between them: A legal analysis of president Bush’s and the federal government’s policy on the funding of research involving human embryonic stem cells. Administrative Law Review, 60(1), 65–125.
Additional Materials
From your course textbook, Cases in Health Care Management, review the following cases:
Case 74: Ethical Issues over DNR Orders
Case 75: How Dare You Bring Your Girlfriend to Visit Mom?
Case 76: Saline Splash
Introduction:
Case Study Seventy-Four: Ethical Issues over DNR Orders
Mr. Warden, a 93-year-old white male, is admitted to Centerville Community Hospital from Centerville Estates Nursing Home. Mr. Warden has had multiple strokes and is only partially responsive to painful stimuli. He does not recognize or respond to nursing staff, physicians, or family members. In addition, he has flexion contractures and a large infected decubitus ulcer over his left sacral area. Further evaluation shows Mr. Warden has extremely poor heart function and is in congestive heart failure. The notes from Centerville Estates Nursing Home indicate Mr. Warden has had one visitor in the past six months; that visitor was not a family member.
Tasks:
Discussion Questions
What are the facts in this situation?
Autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence, and justice are the cornerstones of ethical decision making. What ethical dilemmas does this case illustrate?
Have any principles of ethical decision making been violated in this case? What ones have been supported? How might our cultural upbringing, personal assumptions, and opinions influence our decisions as health care managers? Provide rationales for your responses.
Based on what you know from this short case; why do you think Mr. Warden’s daughter is so insistent on wanting “everything” done for her father?
What if Mr. Warden was wealthy and had a large estate? Would that change your opinion of the son and his responses? Provide a rationale for your response.
If the son had no power of attorney, how could this issue be resolved? Can a physician decide to withdraw care without the consent of the family? Who has the final say in the care of a patient in this condition? Provide your reflections and personal opinions as well as your recommendations and rationale for your responses.
Submission Details:
To support your work, use your course and textbook readings and also use the South University Online Library. As in all assignments, cite your sources in your work and provide references for the citations in APA format.
Your initial posting should be addressed at 500–1000 words as noted in the attached PDF. Submit your document to this Discussion Area by the due date assigned. Be sure to cite your sources using APA format.
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