Ethical Dilemmas

We are going to explore the world of ethical issues in psychology. As in any medical or mental health fields there are rules we all must follow as professionals. In this essay today we will be exploring a case study where we have a young lady who has been stricken by a mental disability. We will be looking at the facts in which her disability was handled by a professional in the field of psychology. We also will be discussing the rights and wrongs that are presented in her case study. We will also be discussing the APA ethical codes and gain a clearer understanding of where some things went wrong and why shall we begin.

De Bord, J. (2014). ETHICS IN MEDICINE University of Washington School of Medicine. Retrieved from https://depts.washington.edu/bioethx/topics/consent.html

Principlism is a common practical approach to any bioethical dilemmas in medicine. According to Lewis Vaughn, there are five principles in Principlism that can provide a framework for reasoning through moral medical issues, which include autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence, utility, and justice. Autonomy refers to the capacity of a person for making decisions for his/her own life. Nonmaleficence refers to doing absolutely no harm to others in any cases. Beneficence defines the right action to do is to bring good to others. Utility refers to always balancing out the harm by the good of an action. Justice refers to everyone should get an equal and fair treatment. The aforementioned five principles are supposed to provide some general guidelines for anyone who is

To support my stand, I will use the Principlism approach articulated by Beauchamp and Childress (B&C) in their textbook principles of biomedical ethics (Beauchamp & Childress, 2013). B & C thoroughly develop and advocate for four principles that lie at the core of moral reasoning in health care: respect for autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence, and justice. The reason behind selecting this approach is because these Principles derived from the “common morality” and thus, they are universally binding in all healthcare settings everywhere. The principles are binding regardless of the ethical theory one adhere to or believe in, because everybody recognizes the importance and the strength of the common morality. Consequently, the Principlism approach provides a means for proceeding with ethical analysis even when persons disagree in theoretical matters.

Weijer, C., Dickens, B., & Meslin, E. (1997). Bioethics for clinicians: 10. Research ethics. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 156(8),

At the start of this this course, I did not think much of how bioethics and legal medicine were connected. Week after week I am beginning to understand how important it is to evolve into a society with guidelines to better serve not only physicians but, all patients as well. In “Medical and Ethical Encounters” by John R. Carlisle, he enlightens us on how in actuality, good practice in law and medicine, is the gateway to superior health care in the united states. In the mid-1970s Beauchamp and Childress formulated a statement known as “the four principles of bioethics. Autonomy of a person to have his say respected by the physician is vital. Beneficence, to always promote health and wellbeing ultimately with an outcome of good over bad. Nonmalfeasance

The first principle per the APA code of ethics is beneficence and nonmaleficence, this is where psychologist focus on the do no harm to their patients (APA, 2010, p.2). A psychologist is to strive to provide the best benefit to a potential client or individual they professionally work with and seek to safeguard their welfare and rights. The guarding of welfare and rights is also attributed to animals used in research. Among psychologist, conflicts will arise and should be handled accordingly to minimize harm (APA, 2010, p.2). Due to the possibility that a psychologist’s scientific judgment and actions may affect another’s life, they must be alert of their own personal, financial, social, or political views as they may be misused to influence others. The psychologist also needs to be aware of their own mental and physical health, so they are at their best capability when helping others.

A particular deficit of Australia’s Code of Ethics is that it does not discuss the ethical manner in which an Australian psychologist should assist other members of a client’s care-giving team. It is important for any individual that their separate health care professionals understand what care is being provided for the client. They should discuss what different suggestions are being made in regard to holistic care as well as what prescriptions the individual is taking that may affect them behaviorally. A psychologist may not be able to do their best work if they are not aware of what constraints their client is under as a result of medical advice. For example, if their client is obese, this could affect the client’s behavior, psyche and attitude.

The rise of ethical practice and accounting for the individuality of clients has led to a wide-range of ethical considerations and guidelines to help demonstrate appropriate actions. Firstly, under principle-based ethics there are four general principles of ethics (Kerridge, et al., 2005) which create a mindset of important considerations a psychologist must keep in mind in all actions. Beauchamp and Childress listed these as autonomy; the right to self-determination, beneficence; acting with compassion for others, non-maleficence; avoiding harm and justice; acting fairly and objectively(Kerridge, et al., 2005) .They also named two derived principles- veracity and confidentiality. These general principles are crucial for psychologists as they are flexible enough to allow the psychologist to adapt to best handle to the complexity of the situation.

The precedence of personal autonomy in healthcare is a distinctive characteristic in Western medicine that allows people to be free from controlling interference by external factors. Modern bioethicists believe that patient autonomy should not be exhausted, but rather prioritized over all other bioethical principles, which are beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice (2008, Tsai). Though patient autonomy is a cornerstone in Western medicine and bioethics, the extent to which patient autonomy should be exercised remains undefined. Currently, patient’s desires are deemed “autonomous” when assessed under a certain procedural criteria; however, different views on how these criterias can be formulated leads to ambiguous moral conclusions on patient

Winslade. "Ethics in Medicine." Clinical Ethics. By A. R. Jonsen. 7th ed. N.p.: McGraw-Hill, 2010. N. pag. Print.

In essence, medical ethics to ensure the fair treatment of every patient regardless of their differences, it does not take into consideration the patient's beliefs. Patients beliefs and preferences should always be respected even if that may result in severe

It explores misconduct experiences and transgressions to help students learn how societal remedies and individual pioneers now shape current concepts of healing. Aspects such as the origins of medical ethics, social justice, peer review, policy and law-making oversight are investigated during the course. Explorations of controversial ideas on disability, human differences and humanity both in the USA and Europe are also highlighted. In addition, the course focuses on the history of the development of medicine starting from medicine as a licensed profession and how it has become regulated, and covers legal considerations and current legal controversies in

Every healthcare professional is bound to encounter ethical dilemmas in his or her day to day practice. For this reason, a number of ethical theories have been developed in the past to not only guide our decision making but to also inform out thinking. In this text, I make use of both the relevant literature and my understanding of ethical theories to explore whether the need to acquire knowledge should be granted priority over the legal requirement of consent to healthcare research.

The essay will discuss the ETHICS IN MEDICINE : The Relationship Between Law and Medical Ethics: