Health Care Ethics

INTERVENING IN A HEALTH CARE ETHICAL ISSUE

Health care providers face multiple challenges as they attempt not only to develop the most appropriate treatments and interventions for patients based on a respect for patient autonomy and rights, but on their recognition that patients may have conflicting needs and interests that affect their health care choices. As noted by Zussman (2004), making ethical decisions in this challenging field requires a recognition that best practices in medicine may at times conflict with the needs, desires, or interests of patients. Consequently, it is often necessary to adjust treatment expectations and protocols to reflect patients' interests and needs.

The ethical issue under discussion herein involves the case of a male patient suffering from a stomach ulcer who was hospitalized and received admittedly costly treatment for his condition. Concerned about

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ogical Approach Health Care Ethical Issues According to Freeman (2004) deontological ethical theories emphasize the notion that the worth or value of actions are not related to their consequences or effects but rather the motives or intentions that precede actions. Consequences are less significant than antecedents of behavior or decisions and ethical decisions are based upon the acknowledgement that individuals possess specific duties or obligations towards others (Bergmann, 2003). Immanuel Kant as described by Sokoloff (2003) is considered deontological in his ethical theory in that the categorical imperative asserts that people should always be treated as ends in themselves and not as a means to an end and, alternatively, that one should always treat others as one wishes to be treated. In the case at hand, a duty of care ethic as described by Smith and Davis (2005) would certainly affirm the notion that a nurse stands in relation to a patient as a professional whose duty it is to deliver appropriate care in a manner that is sensitive to the needs of the patient. Ethically and morally, nurses are bound as are physicians by codes of ethics that emphasize obligations to others (Canadian Nurses Association,
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Approximate Word count = 1263
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)

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