Health Care Ethics for Manual and Intellectual - myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theHealth Care Ethics for Manual and Intellectual Skills. Answer: Introduction The selected scenario for this paper is case study 1, which describes the incidence of Henry and Jim. Henry is a physiotherapist while Jim is a patient who has undergone bilateral keen replacement. Henry discontinues Jims treatment at one point and reports a case of a surgeon who arrives at work smelling alcohol. Firstly, the assignment will identify ethical issues in the case study. Secondly, it will analyse the issues and conflicts. Thirdly, the assignment will present a discussion of professional codes. Fourthly, it will discuss human dignity and human rights. Fifthly, the assignment will present an evaluation of ethical principles. Lastly, it will offer recommendations for professional practice. The ethical issues at stake in the chosen case study There are two main ethical issues in the selected case study. First, one of the surgeons regularly arrives to work smelling alcohol, including in those days on which he performs surgery. When a health care provider loses, through illness or other impairment, the capacity to maintain the baseline manual and intellectual skills needed to accomplish their ethical obligations, they should cease clinical practice to promote and enhance the health-related interests of their patients. All the medical practitioners have a professional duty to be alert to any impairment and to limit their practice correspondingly. Specifically, surgeons should understand and promote the delicacy of touch, quickness of eyesight and steadiness of hand, which are important to the successful performance of an operation (Jones McCullough, 2012). Second, Henry decided to discontinue Jims treatment because he had a waiting list of patients who required his assistance. In this case, Henry did not have a genuine reason to discontinue the treatment even if Jim had shown little improvement. Based on professional ethics, a health care provider should strive to do good to promote the well-being of their patients regardless of the ensuing situation. Besides, the society expects care providers to uphold a certain level of ethics when dealing with patients. Conclusively, the act of discontinuing treatment and being drunk at work are critical ethical conditions. The medical profession as a public trust should retain and enhance standards of practice for the benefit of existing and future clients. An ethical perspective on the issues Deontology is the primary ethical perspective on the ethical issues identified in the case study. Based on the deontology perspective, Henry should not discontinue the treatment while the drunkard surgeon should cease operation. Deontology is ethics of duty where an action is of more importance than the outcome. Harm is completely unacceptable regardless of its implications. The deontology concept was first delineated by Immanuel Kant and thus popularly known as Kantian deontology (Misselbrook, 2013). In some instances, the action of a deontologist might be appropriate for a person but may not produce good outcomes for the society. The medical practice cultivates the principle of deontology, and thus the relationship and interaction between a physician and a patient are deontological. A context of medical negligence occurs when deontology is breached (Mandal, Ponnambath, Parija, 2016). The concept of deontology guides medical practitioners to do good to patients at all times. Henry should thus continue assisting Jim irrespective of the outcome. Another perspective is the Egalitarianism, which proposes the theory of distributive justice. The basic objective of equality is to compensate for people having challenging family circumstances, born with poor endowments or suffering from diseases and accidents (Ekmeki Arda, 2015). Clinicians thus have a duty to promote equality based on these perspectives. Discrimination against patients due to their personal lives should be avoided when offering care. This concept supports the argument that Henry should reconsider his position. Discussion of the ethical issues from the perspectives of: The requirement to respect human dignity and human rights; Healthcare presents a challenge to respect human dignity and human rights because those seeking health care are mainly restricted in expressing their dignity. Patients might be restricted in expressing their dignity due to their ill health and the conditions needed by healthcare (Jones D. , 2015). In the case study, Henry and the drunkard surgeon should express the respect for human dignity as well as human rights. Human rights perspectives that apply to patient care are the right to attain high standards of health and civil rights. A patient has the right to highest attainable health standards. Besides, a patient should be free from inhumane treatment and torture. Inhumane treatment limits a patients right to receive better care. Discontinuance of treatment in the case study can be viewed as inhumane because the physician is limiting the patients right to quality health care. Human rights further focus attention on the right of socially precluded groups to be free from discriminatio n in the delivery of health care. On the other hand, the rights of the health providers should also be observed and promoted in a health care setting. The fundamental rights for physicians are freedom of association as well as the enjoyment of a decent work environment (Cohen Ezer, 2013). This argument does not insinuate that the actions of Henry are justified; however, he has the right to better working conditions. My future professions codes of ethics/professional conduct and professional standards; The case study has prompted me to consider three professional standards that would be applicable in the future. These professional standards are empathy, humanness and benevolence. Empirical evidence suggests that medical practitioners, mainly nurses, always experience dilemmas in their practice (Shahriari Baloochestani, 2014). Hence, professional standards are fundamental to address such dilemmas. For instance, in the case study, Henry experienced a dilemma on whether to uphold his previous decision of discontinuing care or reconsider his position. The principle of benevolence entails being kind to patients, accommodating their views and expressing tolerance. In addition, benevolence cultivates the culture of deriving enjoyment from serving others and viewing the medical practice as charitable work rather than a profit making practice. In my future practice, I will practice the benevolence virtue and avoid focusing on profit-making. Empathy is also a fundamental aspect of medical p ractice specifically in delivering quality health care. Healthcare professionals, who observe empathy, enter the patients world of illness and suffering, experience the condition and then help the patient to recover from the illness. It entails not only emotions response to the patients suffering but also a passion for the patient (Marcum, 2013). Humanness will guide me to be more caring when offering care. The virtue of humanness emphasizes on treating the patient as a human and upholding their dignity. The combination of empathy, humanness and benevolence will be vital in handling dilemmas in practice and making appropriate decisions to avoid ethical issues. One ethical theory I have studied in the unit The ethical issues in the case study can be analyzed based on Utilitarianism, one of the theories I studied in the unit. In Utilitarianism, a decision is selected depending on the greatest amount of benefit gotten for the largest number of persons. The Utilitarianism approach is also referred as consequentialist because the outcome dictates the morality of an action (Tordjman, 2017). In the case of Henry, he can discontinue Jims treatment and focus on assisting the patients who are on the waiting list. This decision could result in harm to Jim, but the net outcome is a maximum benefit because the patients who are on the waiting list will be assisted. A utilitarian approach is always driven by calculated benefits or harms for a decision or act based on evidence (Petrini, 2010). Studies have provided examples of situations where utilitarian can be applied. For instance, a hospital may set a target for resuscitation of premature newborns depending on the available resources and time. Pe rhaps the most elaborate instance of utilitarian occurs in instances of disasters. A hospital might decide to focus on assisting the people who are affected by disaster instead of treating an outpatient client. There are two versions of utilitarian theory including rule and act utilitarianism (Playford, Roberts, Playford, 2015). In act utilitarianism, a decision is made for each incidence after evaluating the benefits and harms enhancing overall good outcome. Before a decision is made, the potential benefits and harms to the patient are considered, without evaluating the past evidence or experience. This method of decision-making result in time and resource wastage and a decision is prone to bias. On the other hand, in rule utilitarianism, an analysis of the potential benefits and harms is not conducted. The incidence when Henry decided to discontinue Jims treatment was ruled utilitarianism. This method of decision making is efficient compared to act utilitarianism. The principles of health care ethics Several professional codes of ethics and professional codes of conduct apply to the issues identified in the case study. Henry failed to observe the principle of beneficence. Beneficence is an act of mercy and kindness with an aim to do good to other people. Virtually all professionals have the basic moral imperative of being merciful to others and doing right. In the context of a doctor-patient relationship, the doctor must value the well-being as well as the interest of the patient. In medical practice, beneficence is among one of the primary ethics (Kinsinger, 2009). Another principle of health care ethics that applies to the case study is non-maleficence. According to the principle of non-maleficence, a provider should not do any harm. As such, clinicians should avoid delivering ineffective treatments or exhibiting malice towards patients (Page, 2012). However, many appropriate and useful interventions have the potential of causing harm, which makes the principle of nonmaleficenc e less useful to physicians. The principle of nonmaleficence can be used in collaboration with the principle of beneficence to enhance the benefits for the patient and prevent harm. Further, respect for patient autonomy applies to the case study. Henry was informed that Jim is not following his exercise program at home and decided to discontinue his treatment. Henry did not exhibit the respect for patient autonomy in this case. The principle of respect for patient autonomy entails allowing patients to make their personal decisions concerning which health care interventions or treatment they will receive (Entwistle, Carter, Cribb, McCaffery, 2010). Autonomy in medical practice entails allowing competent adults to make informed decisions concerning their medical care. Physicians who practice the respect for patient autonomy first seek consent before initiating any form of intervention. Recommendations for professional practice There are two primary recommendations for health professionals in the case study. Henry should reconsider his earlier decision of discontinuing Jims treatment. He should discuss the issue with Jim as well as Sally, the practice manager. Then Sally can refer the issue of the drunkard surgeon to the hospital chief-of-staff. Recusal is not a suggestion that the professionals will be shirking their duties. On the contrary, it means that they have decided to act with the expected level of professionalism of physicians in health care institutions. It is evident that health care providers can experience a wide range of ethical issues in practice settings (Richardson, 2015). Just like several of ethical issues that have been identified in the case study. A physiotherapist might need to trade-off what is appropriate for the clients because of regulations and insufficient benefits. They should, however, do that while achieving best practice standards. Henry, Sally and the concerned surgeon sho uld attempt to understand the morals of any decision. They should acknowledge that ethics is an issue without a wrong or right answer (Berry, 2014). The ethics are influenced by personal ethics, professional code of ethics, legal requirements and professional code of conduct. Conclusion As discussed in this paper, case study 1 presents classical examples of ethical issues in medical practice. Ethics entails a professions moral judgment about what is right or wrong in a particular scenario. Henry has been guided by the principle of utilitarianism rather than deontology. The virtues of beneficence, respect for patient autonomy and nonmaleficence have been compromised in the case study. 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