The principles of healthcare ethics
Discuss About The Identification Ethical Issues Present Study.
Ethics can be simply described as an individual’s moral principles. Ethics help the different people in a society to maintain order in a community when they follow these principles in their everyday lives. Medical professionals are now continually having to make difficult decisions quickly and on the spot, as it may mean life or death to those patients they are providing care for. Healthcare ethics help show them what is right and wrong while dispensing their duties to those under their care thus making this decision just and fair. Hence, healthcare ethics includes decisions on the course of treatments and care that can be taken by people, their families and friends, and medical providers. It needs those in the healthcare profession to critically think through their decisions and how it will affect those involved and also analyze the relationship between the medical providers and those in their care (Lambek, 2010). Thesis statement: with the presence of various ethical issues in the case study about Amos, they can be analyzed using various concepts and then come up with recommendations for professional practice.
Firstly, when Amos went to the hospital to get treatment, he did not get helped by the hospital staff but was instead sent away. He then went home so that he could be taken care of by his family but he lost his life. He did not get treated and hence his rights were violated by the hospital as everyone is entitled to get treatment in the hospital without discrimination but he was sent away because they gave preference to students residing in the school even though he was suffering just the same as them and he was also a student. The hospital did not take Amos’ dignity into consideration because they did not give him treatment even though he was sick With the principles of health, he and his family did not get justice because he did not get the care he required. They did not consider those around him who had to take care of him because the hospital did not and thus because they were not qualified he lost his life. Amos did not get a decision on how to handle his treatment because the hospital staff made a decision for him by sending him away, thus he had no autonomy over his own health. There was a lack of continuity of care for Amos after he left the hospital. As he was sick the hospital and the school should have checked on his progress and suggest alternatives where he could get the treatment he required. By not doing this it went against his right to get the best healthcare and the professional code of conduct which requires the continuance of patient care (Gough, 2014).
Analyzing the ethical issues in the case study of Amos and the cholera outbreak
The hospital staff did not take care of Amos when he went to seek treatment which is their duty and this led to his death as a result of cholera while at home. They went against the principle of “doing no harm” to their patient by sending him away after he went to them for help. Even though they were short of supplies, they should not have sent him away but instead kept him under observation hence increasing his chances of getting better. They also violated his right to get treated equally to others. The hospital staff gave preferential treatment to students who resided in school over Amos who was also a student. As they all went to the same school they were obviously exposed to the same risk factors thus they should not have discriminated against him because his condition was just as serious as theirs (Runciman, Merry& Walton, 2017). The doctor and nurse were wrong to turn away Amos because it went against the Australian code of ethics which require them to put the patient’s well being first. They sent him away before knowing if he was well or not, just that he could not receive treatment just because he resided outside the school. Healthcare providers are supposed to always do all they can to benefit a patient who is in their care. This did not happen in Amos’ case as they did not treat him but they just sent him away because he did not meet the requirement that they themselves set (Lakhan, Hamlat, McNamee & Laird, 2009).
The hospital did not have enough medical supplies to handle the cholera outbreak and hence they were not prepared in the event an outbreak of such magnitude. They are supposed to treat patients always and never be at a shortage of medical supplies. They did not have a backup plan and had to limit the treatment to just students who resided in school. Thus this went against the right of patients getting treatment when they seek it (Komesaroff & Kerridge, 2009). It also conflicted with the Australian professional code of conduct which requires hospitals and other healthcare facilities to ensure they participate in risk management and quality assurance activities. The hospital was not prepared to handle the huge number of patients in the cholera outbreak thus it means they had not done any risk management activities which would have informed them of steps to take in such situations (Breen et al., 2010). On the other hand, they acted to the best of their ability with allocating the resources they had to treat patients. They worked on the principle of achieving the greater good by deciding to use the medical supplies to only treat those who lived in the school. It is ethically wrong to do so because by doing so they went against the Australian healthcare provider’s oath of doing no harm to their patients like Amos who dies, but they also saved lives of patients who received treatment. The hospital went against policies in Australia which make it compulsory for them to always be stocked with medical supplies in case of disease outbreaks. By not having enough supplies they caused a lot of harm (Daly, Speedy & Jackson, 2017).
Violation of Amos’ rights and dignity
Amos and the hospital disagreed on his treatment. Both of the parties had valid points in this disagreement. On one hand, Amos was sick same as the other students and went to the hospital to get the treatment he required, he argued that since he was a student, he should also be among those who got treated with the limited supply of medication. On the other hand, the hospital had to make a decision on who was to receive the treatment as they had limited medical supplies. The criteria they chose was to treat those admitted students who resided in the school thus they could not treat Amos who did not meet this requirement. It was wrong because it meant not everyone in the community was entitled to equal treatment even though they were all sick in accordance with the Australian professional code of conduct (Mason, Laurie & Smith, 2013). Good medical practice should be centered on the patient and this did not occur in this case. The hospital put the needs of the many before the needs of Amos. Even though many lives were saved through getting the treatment to the students who met the requirements set, there was still a life lost. Amos lost his life because he did not live in the school which is not fair (Callaghan et al., 2012).
Recommendations. The hospital should start having sessions when they learn how to handle risk management and outbreaks of diseases. They should hold practice sessions and drills where the staff is taught how to act in case of such an outbreak so that when it happens, unnecessary deaths are avoided (Warnecke, 2014). Next, they should ensure that the hospital is always stocked with medical supplies so that if there is another outbreak of common diseases like cholera they can handle it without having to choose who to treat and who not to treat(Australia, 2006). They should also have emergency backup plans such as referral services and working relationships with other hospitals where they can send patients in case of an influx as a result of disease outbreaks. Another recommendation is that there should be regular sessions between the hospital staff and the hospital management where they can discuss various issues. The hospital staff are always on the ground and might have helpful suggestions which may help the hospital better itself (Rundle-Thiele & Wymer, 2010).
Lack of continuity of care
Conclusion.
All in all, when there is an outbreak of a disease like cholera as in the case study, there will be some issues which will occur. In this essay, we looked at some of the ethical issues that occurred while handling the cholera outbreak which led to the death of Amos. The hospital also did not act as they should because they in some way contributed to the death of Amos which was avoidable had they been better prepared. On the other hand, they did the best they could with the limited resources they had and made a decision to treat people who met the requirement they set strictly without any preference even if it led to death it still saved lives. What this shows is that people in different professions are faced with various ethical issues and dilemmas and it is up to them to make a decision so that they can get on with their work.
References
Australia, E. C. (2006). Code of ethics. Early Childhood Australia.
Breen, K. J., Cordner, S. M., Thomson, C. J., & Plueckhahn, V. D. (2010). Good medical practice: professionalism, ethics and law.
Callaghan, M., Wood, G., Payan, J. M., Singh, J., & Svensson, G. (2012). Code of ethics quality: an international comparison of corporate staff support and regulation in Australia, Canada and the United States. Business Ethics: A European Review, 21(1), 15-30.
Daly, J., Speedy, S., & Jackson, D. (2017). Contexts of nursing: An introduction. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Gough, I. R. (2014). The significance of Good Medical Practice: a code of conduct for doctors in Australia. The Medical journal of Australia, 200(3), 148-149.
Komesaroff, P. A., & Kerridge, I. H. (2009). The Australian Medical Council draft code of professional conduct: good practice or creeping authoritarianism?. Medical Journal of Australia, 190(4), 204.
Lakhan, S. E., Hamlat, E., McNamee, T., & Laird, C. (2009). Time for a unified approach to medical ethics. Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine, 4(1), 13.
Lambek, M. (Ed.). (2010). Ordinary ethics: Anthropology, language, and action. Fordham Univ Press.
Mason, K., Laurie, G., & Smith, A. M. (2013). Mason and McCall Smith’s law and medical ethics. Oxford University Press.
Runciman, B., Merry, A., & Walton, M. (2017). Safety and ethics in healthcare: a guide to getting it right. CRC Press.
Rundle-Thiele, S. R., & Wymer, W. (2010). Stand-alone ethics, social responsibility, and sustainability course requirements: A snapshot from Australia and New Zealand. Journal of Marketing Education, 32(1), 5-12.
Warnecke, E. (2014). The art of communication. Australian family physician, 43(3), 156.
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
