Ethical Issues In Healthcare

A philosophy of an organization helps differentiate themselves from their competitors and set a foundation for future success. It also helps shape an organization by presenting the goals they want to accomplish with specific activities. To improve this, many organizations understand the important of sharing values and goals and realize employee recognition. This helps staff from moving forward toward success of the organizations. Chapter 4 introduces “Codes of Ethics in Health Services.” Code of ethics is a guideline for healthcare professionals to accomplish and serve as a member of a society. Similar to other professions, managers have their own code of ethics in maintaining their duties and responsibilities. They also use the codes for ethical decision-making in dealing with ethical issues. Chapter 5 deals with “Organizational Responses to Ethical Issues.” It provides assistance for managers and organizations in their decision making. It is manager’s duty to figure out the problem and resolve it (Darr, 2011,

Ethical Dilemmas in Healthcare Healthcare Values and Ethics Western Governors University Jean Renelien 000809006 January 16, 2018 A1: Potential Ethical Dilemmas As healthcare providers, we are often faced with situations and decisions that require us to make ethical and moral decisions. As a healthcare provider, we take an oath to do no harm and put our patients first. I am a licensed registered respiratory therapist, and in my role, I have a duty to care for my patients and provide adequate treatment and respiratory support that falls within my scope of practice.

Ethics are a set of moral principles that serve as a guiding philosophy for behavior. Consequently it is not a surprise that ethical dilemmas occur daily in the health care setting. Any nurse who refuses to provide care for a patient faces an ethical dilemma (Kuhn, 2012, pp. 412-418). The reasons given for refusal range anywhere from a conflict of personal values to fear of personal risk of injury. Nurses do have the right, at times, to refuse patient care assignments. The decision to accept or reject an assignment must be based upon a judgment by the nurse of the nurse 's ability to provide competent patient care. This paper aims to show both sides of the argument when it comes to nurses refusing a patient assignment. One side believes that nurses has the right to refuse patient assignment, as they must be true to themselves if they want to perform their best on the job. On the other hand, the other side believes that it is the nurse’s responsibility to care for all patients and, therefore nurses cannot simply refuse a patient.

Identify and explain two ethical issues/dilemmas in healthcare as identified and discussed in the scholarly literature (ProQuest, EBSCO,

While visiting my mother in the hospital this past weekend, I was a witness to an event that was quite unsettling. A homeless gentleman, who looked to be about 35 years old, was asked to pay $150 upfront for medical services due to his lack of insurance. The man informed the medical assistant that he was homeless and did not have the funds, to which the assistant responded that no services would be rendered without pay and turned the man away. The man stated that he was experiencing continuous chest pains, which could be an early symptom of a more serious condition. However due to his lack of funds and the fact that he was uninsured he was not permitted to be seen by the doctor.

The ethical dilemma I encountered at my placement involves a male in his late-sixties, who has recently suffered a stroke. Mr. A’s situation is unique as he has been unable to speak and his cognitive abilities have declined since. The Fraser Health agency protocol is to contact the patient’s family to determine who would be the temporary substitute decision makers (“Information for temporary substitute,” 2015). The health care consent and care facility admission act describes how decisions are to be made if a patient is determined incapable (Nidus Personal Planning Resource Centre, 2012). The next steps required liaising with the home health team in the community to determine if Mr. A had ever listed any family members as his emergency contacts.

Nurses are constantly challenged by changes which occur in their practice environment and are under the influence of internal or external factors. Due to the increased complexity of the health system, nowadays nurses are faced with ethical and legal decisions and often come across dilemmas regarding patient care. From this perspective a good question to be raised would be whether or not nurses have the necessary background, knowledge and skills to make appropriate legal and ethical decisions. Even though most nursing programs cover the ethical and moral issues in health care, it is questionable if new nurses have the depth of knowledge and understanding of these issues and apply them in their practice

There are a number of ethical consideration that should be evaluated and implemented when it comes to healthcare research. Healthcare research is conducted in a number of ways, each way different from the other trying to come up with conclusions for specific issues in the industry. Qualitative research method is a research method in healthcare that focuses on explaining problems in their context. Through this method of research data is gathered in its entirety and represented fully. Due to the broad application of the research method and the manner in which the data required is produced, this form of research requires a number of ethical considerations.

Healthcare professionals will be faced with ethical dilemmas throughout their career, particularly in the hospital environment. Having an education regarding professional healthcare ethics will provide some direction in how to best address these dilemmas at a time when either the patient or their family is in need of making decisions for themselves or their family member. It can be difficult for healthcare professionals to weigh professional protocol against their own personal beliefs and ethical understandings when determining critical care for their patient.

The following ethics program will highlight some key ethical issues facing the healthcare industry as a whole, as well as hospice agencies specifically. In this program, I will reference ethical principles used today as well as reference historical ethicists and philosophers that backup the items outlined in this ethics program. There are two major topics to be discussed. The first will be how to treat patients that are at the end of their life, which includes their loved ones as well. A specific issue to be addressed in terms of patient care will be the option of doctor-assisted suicide, often called euthanasia, and why hospice should not support this. The other issue is that of data security and privacy, and how all patient information should be handled in the healthcare environment.

Teamwork- It has been found that relying too heavily on health information technology (IT) for communication can reduce teamwork (Yoder-Wise, 2011, p. 215). With the availability of information on the internet and computer software, nurses do not need to rely on co-workers or physicians for information. According to Yoder-Wise (2011), IT “will never eliminate the need for personal communication and teamwork” (p. 215).

Growing old and losing the ability to function independently is inevitable.  Aging is a part of life.  As adults grow old, they need increased assistance with daily living skills.  The elderly may need assistance with finances, cooking, washing clothes, and cleaning.  However, many Americans are not only aging but also acquiring dementia.  In a recent study from the funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH), revealed that approximately 3.8 million people in the United States have some type of dementia National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. (2001). Dementia affects the ability to cognitively function

Ethical issues are “moral challenges” facing the health care profession (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2012, p. 127). Ethical issues are major concern in the healthcare field because healthcare providers observe ethical issues every day and have to make ethical decisions. A great example in the medical field is advance directives these documents are written to address individual’s medical preferences. These documents usually take effect when patients are no longer able to make informed health care decisions for them. These documents are helpful to everyone and health care providers, there are ethical considerations that can make the use of advance directives difficult (Llama, 2014). This author is a geriatric nurse that recently observed an advance directive ethical issue in the clinical setting. The purpose of this paper is to outline the steps of ethical decision-making within the seven steps for the framework. This paper will also identify the facts of the case from the perspective of each person impacted by the situation and identify which ethical principles were involved in the situation.

I will agree that having healthcare professionals, their ultimate goals are to save lives. Besides, their vocation, nonetheless, with the Hippocratic Oath, they are to protect, and care for the patients as well. Nevertheless, the patient’s rights are not to be ignored or disregarded. In such case, there were some unethical issues. The team has not only violated the patient wish, but rights. Additionally, her religious belief as Jehovah's Witness was overlooked. According to Jonsen, A. R., Siegler, M., & Winslade, W. J. (2015). “Religious belief and the teachings of various faith communities are relevant to medical care”

Everyday, healthcare professionals are faced with ethical dilemmas in their workplace. These ethical dilemmas need to be addressed in order to provide the best care for the patient. Healthcare professionals have to weigh their own personal beliefs, professional beliefs, ethical understandings, and several other factors to decide what the best care for their patient might be. This is illustrated in Mrs. Smith’s case. Mrs. Smith is an 85 year old who has suffered from a large stroke that extends to both of her brains hemispheres which has left her unconscious. She only has some brain stem reflexes and requires a ventilator for support. She is unable to communicate how she wishes to proceed with her healthcare. Mrs. Smith’s children, Sara and Frank have different views regarding their mother’s plan of care. The decision that needs to be made is whether to prolong Mrs. Smith’s life, as Sara would like to do, or stop all treatments and care, as Frank feels his mother would want. In the healthcare field, there are situations similar to this case that happen daily where moral and ethical judgment is necessary to guide the decision that would be best for the patient. The purpose of this paper is to explore and discuss, compare and contrast the personal and professional values, ethical principles, and legal issues regarding Mrs. Smith’s quality of life and further plan of care.