Drug Pushers Use Of Moral Virtue In Health Care

Edmund Pellegrino’s account of virtue based ethics practiced by a physician reaches an extremely high moral standard and involves the expression, at the highest level, of benevolence, temperance, fidelity to trust, integrity, justice and compassion which goes over and above what is strictly required of a physician; whereas, legal and rights-based ethical conceptions involve a physician adhering to the duties imposed on them by the laws of the land-such as physician licensure, good Samaritan laws, anti-discrimination laws, etc., and medical ethics codes and duties which are more obligations and duties to what strict ethics spells out.

Studies have shown that many factors have been contributing to influence patient’s care in an ethical manner. What factors could affects one decision for their medical care? Does it also included the nurse’s individual views or should consider their moral obligations? But what is ethics really is? Based on the book Nursing Ethics by Butts & Rich, “Ethics is a systematic approach to understand, analyze, and distinguish matters of right and wrong, good and bad, and admirable and deplorable as they relate to the well-being”. Ethics should follow the current AMA guidelines.

Even though this occurrence happened almost 70 years ago, the prevalent themes still exist today. The allure of pharmaceutical money and the use of drugs on patients, for instance, sway some doctors, even when they are unnecessary or, worse, harmful (Koch 1). Reading about Lacks, it is clearly recognizable how necessary it is to have a moral compass in a field that requires utter respect towards

In First, Do No Harm: The Dramatic Story of Real Doctors and Patients Making Impossible Choices at a Big-City Hospital, Lisa Belkin, the author, examines the decisions that many medical professionals have to make and procedures they have to follow on a day to day basis, many of which bring to focus new ethical issues that have never been faced before. Although she focuses on the business, and the morals and ethics component of medicine, it is not hard to link both of these issues to a slow ongoing shift that has occurred in medicine that has changed it from a religious practice to an economic business. The consequence of this shift becomes clear when examining real life scenarios, just like Belkin does in her book. By forcing a dichotomy between

They did not see morality as part of the medical equation.” What Maslin means is that doctors, rather medical students, care about science and finding cures more than the person they are treating. Not only are people’s lives at stake, but their sense of freedom of living their lives the way they want to. Doctors are just now beginning to realize that their patients are human. Meaning that if someone dies, their family will resent the doctor because they feel like all doctors care about is the next treatment and what the next course of action is.

There are times that self-determination has opposition with the values and beliefs of health care providers. The five step ethical decision making model is in place for patients that are unable to make their own health care decisions due to incompetency; paternalism is not the method used anymore. “In relation to health care, paternalism manifests itself in the making of decisions on behalf of patients without their full consent or knowledge. (Burkhardt & Nathaniel, 2008). Value systems, which includes a patients and family morals, play a factor in ethical decision making.

Medical ethics and legal issues have been a key topic in medical field for many years now. It is important for medical professionals to understand the importance of the way we care for patients, it is therefore important to be knowledgeable and aware of the medical ethics and legal issues that govern good patient care. Health care professionals must make decisions based on ethical and legal issues to performance their regular duties. However, Medical ethics is not only about avoiding harm to patients. It is rather a norms, values and principles (Ethical theories 2015). Therefore norms, values and principles are intended to govern medical ethical conduct. Ethics is defined as “a standard of behaviour and a concept of right and wrong beyond what the legal consideration is in any given situation”. In another words medical ethics is a discipline that used to handle moral problems coming out the care of patients. Law is another important discipline that often comes together with medical ethics. Law defined as a “rule of conduct or action prescribed or formally recognized as binding or enforced by a controlling authority”. Government imply law to keep the society running smoothly and to control behaviour that could threaten public safety. Medical professionals have to often prioritise these terms before making any clinical decision. The following findings will constructively emphasise on medical ethics, its

The concepts of dignity, diversity, and ethics are interspersed within health care because it is a field that revolves around the care of humans. On the other hand, it is also a field in which humans collaboratively take care of humans; and with that comes human error, bias, and imperfection. For example, the provision of “excellent” care to patients is the expected outcome; however, the definition of this “excellence” can be interpreted differently based on individual or institutional beliefs. Therefore, the key in the delivery of excellent patient care is the ability for each individual to self-reflect and learn through each and every experience what it truly takes to preserve the “self-worth” and needs of every human being.

Nurses have an ethical and professional responsibility to advocate for patient autonomy when patients are cognitively competent and to protect their well-being when they are deemed incapacitated. These are necessary professional roles concerning the ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and respect for others. Virtue ethics is a form of deontology that adheres to the philosophy that humans have a duty (obligation) to themselves and others; moreover, to adhere to the ethical principles and perform virtuous actions and avoid vice. These cardinal virtues include wisdom, courage, temperance, justice, fortitude, generosity, self-respect, good-temper, and sincerity (Guido, 2001, pp. 33–38). Additionally, patients have the right to patient-centered care, privacy, be free from discrimination (culturally competent care), and prompt complaint resolution. It is imperative that nurses be familiar with the Code of Ethics for Nurses, along with ethical principles and employ these as guidelines for professional competence both inside and outside the areas of practice.

The virtue ethics such as compassion, discernment, trustworthiness, and integrity are pivotal values that are the essential for the effective delivery of healthcare (Margaret ,2014,p. 50). Doctors and nurses in environments where you are constantly put under chronic stress it’s critical that personal you are able to make the hard calls, be supportive and compassionate as well as be competent in your skills as a health care provider.

Limentani, A. E. (1998). An ethical code for everybody in health care: The role and limitations

In 2013, Swift stated “a clear majority of Americans (58%) say the drug should be legalized” (1). Within the past three years this number has increased. The “Ethics of Care” is related to this concept because it has to do with taking a look at what is right and wrong. This system also takes a look at equality within all.

Using this theory to reflect upon the incident, Jesse’s lack of consideration for personal boundaries and obtuse behavior could be seen as a lack of virtue. Being that the important component of the incident is Jesse’s moral character and not the action its self. While I appreciate that this theory coincides more with my personal beliefs, I am only speculating as to Jesse’s virtue in relation to my own. This encourages me to consider that people will value virtues differently, what is morally important will differ from person to person. Therefore perhaps using virtue-based ethical theory is not an objective way to view the incident. However, I feel as though what I have learnt in relation to this theory will be vital going forward in my nursing career as virtuous conduct coincides with the caring nature behind the idea of nursing and promotion of human wellbeing (Begley,

For any professional working in the substance abuse treatment field, they will very likely come across situations and be presented with dilemmas relating to personal beliefs, judgments, and values. Drug or substance use and abuse have been a controversial and heated topic around the world for centuries. Drug abuse, in a way, is a facet of human culture that has been present for a great deal of human history in general. Every culture handles the issue of drug abuse differently. The history of how a society views persons with addictions is intermeshed with emotion, misperceptions, and prejudice that directly affects the care of drug abusers. This is a kind of awareness that drug users and those who provide drug treatment or rehabilitation should have. They may be susceptible to treating patients different because of their own personal views or because of the culturally normative views of that particular society. Just like teenagers may be automatically considered dangerous or irresponsible, it is fairly normative in a health care setting for a patient to be perceived negatively just because that person is a known drug user. Because of the highly charged emotional nature of the substance abuse treatment field, providers should possess the tools to explore ethical dilemmas objectively. By doing so, and by examining their own reactions to the situation, providers can proceed with the most ethical course of action. Ethical practice is

The article under review is called, “The Philosopher in the Clinic”, authored by Daniel N. Robinson, who is associated with Georgetown University, Washington DC. This article is a review in itself, of K. W. M. Fulford’s thesis, “Moral Theory & Medical Practice”, published by the Cambridge University Press at Cambridge, in 1989.