Ethical dilemmas related to health policy
NUR 508 Grand Canyon Week 6 Discussion 2
Select an ethical dilemma related to health policy from the categories of moral values, professional regulation, health of individuals in society, or distributive justice. What are the controversies surrounding this issue? What are the opposing ethical principles? How has past or current health policy addressed this dilemma? Support your reasoning with reference citations.
ADDITIONAL INFO
Ethical dilemmas related to health policy
Introduction
You’re in health care. Your job is to help sick people get well and stay healthy. But it’s also your job to make sure that everyone has access to adequate care, including those who aren’t able to pay for it themselves. That can sometimes be hard—many people don’t want the government or employers telling them what medical treatments they can have or how much medicine they should take. What’s a doctor supposed to do when faced with ethical dilemmas? How do you know if an ethical decision is right or wrong? And how does this apply to health policy development? We’ve got answers:
Experts in the field of medical ethics find ethical dilemmas to be a part of daily practice.
While ethical dilemmas are a part of daily practice, they are not always easy to resolve. The field of medical ethics is growing and there is no clear consensus on how best to deal with ethical issues in healthcare settings.
Ethical dilemmas can be controversial and some experts think that the increased awareness of such problems may result in physicians being more willing to accept difficult situations or even participate in them themselves (e.g., when a patient requests euthanasia).
Medical ethics is evolving.
The rules of medical ethics are not static. They evolve and change over time. For example, in the early 1900s it was considered ethical to perform surgery on an unconscious patient with no consent or warning in order to save their life; however, today this would be considered a violation of patient rights and would likely result in litigation against your practice by patients who were harmed by such actions.
It’s important that you understand what your role is as a health care provider when making ethical decisions related to your practice—and what those decisions mean for patients’ rights.
Ethical dilemmas are commonplace when developing public policy.
Ethical dilemmas are commonplace when developing public policy. There is no one right answer, and ethical dilemmas can be difficult to resolve.
However, there are certain factors that tend to increase the likelihood of ethical conflicts in health care settings:
-
The complexity and ambiguity of the issues involved
-
The need for rapid decision-making on an urgent basis (e.g., emergency room)
There are four different approaches to ethical decision-making.
There are four different approaches to ethical decision-making. These include utilitarianism, deontology and virtue ethics (situation ethics).
Utilitarianism is the idea that decisions should be made in order to improve the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people with no regard for their own welfare or rights; this approach has been criticized because it can lead to some very troubling outcomes. It also doesn’t take into consideration human dignity as an inherent value; therefore there is no room for moral dilemmas such as abortion or euthanasia when making decisions about health care policy because everything must be viewed from an economic perspective (or cost-benefit analysis).
Deontology focuses on rules rather than outcomes; these rules may not always be fair but they must still be followed if there is any hope of preserving peace among nations or societies within them. This approach generally gives priority to groups rather than individuals because they hold more power over people’s lives than individuals do at times so it makes sense that deontological philosophies would reflect this tendency towards collectivism rather than individualism–for example believing everyone deserves equal rights regardless whether they’re rich/poor etcetera
All health services may not be equal.
All health services may not be equal.
-
Some may be more expensive than others.
-
Some may be more effective than others. For example, it’s possible that a surgical procedure that costs $100 could be less effective than one that costs $1,000 because it requires more resources and staff time to perform the procedure properly (and hence reduce the risk of complications).
-
Some have higher risks of complications (such as death) while others do not; some carry higher risk factors associated with their use while others do not; etcetera…
Consequences matter.
When you’re considering a health policy, the consequences of that policy should be considered. The consequences can take many different forms: they could be positive or negative; short-term or long-term; they could affect people differently depending on their age, gender and race/ethnicity.
The best way to think about the consequences of your decision is through a lens of cause and effect—that is, what causes what? It’s important to consider both causes and effects when making decisions about health policies because not all consequences are created equal. Some are easier than others to predict: if someone smokes every day for decades it’s likely that they’ll die sooner than someone who doesn’t smoke at all (or even if they do). Other potential outcomes may not be so clear cut; what happens when we repeal smoking bans? How does this affect those who suffer from lung cancer? What happens when we implement universal coverage but leave preexisting conditions alone? These questions require more analysis than simply looking at “what did this person do?”
Ethics is sometimes ambiguous, and that’s okay.
Ethics is a complex field, and there are no definitive answers. It’s a matter of opinion and subjectivity. There are many different ethical situations in health policy and medical practice, such as abortion, assisted suicide, organ donation and transplants, treatment for mental illness (e.g., electroconvulsive therapy), genetic screening for disease risk or enhancement purposes (e.g., gene therapy), genetic modification through gene editing techniques such as CRISPR-Cas9 which can be used to swap genes between species or humans with different genomes; genome editing has already been implemented successfully on human embryos by scientists at Boston Children’s Hospital in Massachusetts who used CRISPR Cas9 technology to correct a mutation that causes Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).
Ethics has a role in everything we do, and that includes health policy.
Ethics is a field of study that applies to all aspects of life, including health policy. It’s important to remember that ethics is not always clear-cut and can be difficult to apply in every situation. For example, if you’re faced with a choice like whether or not to donate your kidney (which could save someone’s life), how do you weigh the potential benefits against their risks?
Ethical decision making isn’t always black and white—there are many shades between right and wrong—but it does require careful consideration before making any decisions about our bodies or those around us.
Conclusion
As doctors and health policy developers, we have a great opportunity to use our experience in ethics to make better decisions. We can take the time to consider how our actions affect patients and other people, as well as the ethical implications of policies that we propose. It’s important for us not only to know what the law says but also how it fits into everyday life—in terms of both good and bad outcomes. The more we understand about ethical decision-making, then, the better off everyone will be when it comes time for policy changes or new initiatives that affect all of us!
Collepals.com Plagiarism Free Papers
Are you looking for custom essay writing service or even dissertation writing services? Just request for our write my paper service, and we'll match you with the best essay writer in your subject! With an exceptional team of professional academic experts in a wide range of subjects, we can guarantee you an unrivaled quality of custom-written papers.
Get ZERO PLAGIARISM, HUMAN WRITTEN ESSAYS
Why Hire Collepals.com writers to do your paper?
Quality- We are experienced and have access to ample research materials.
We write plagiarism Free Content
Confidential- We never share or sell your personal information to third parties.
Support-Chat with us today! We are always waiting to answer all your questions.