Ethical Issues In Emergency Medical Services

One of the main ethical issues that faces health care is the security of patient information. This information is protected by laws and regulations such as HIPPA, but there are still concerns Scott, et al, 2005). Among those concerns is the new concept of electronic patient records and information. These records are designed to help hospitals and doctors get patient information more quickly, so that patients can receive treatment as soon as possible. Unfortunately, anything kept and transmitted on a computer has the potential to be hacked, so that is a serious concern for patients. Not all patients want their medical records to be available electronically, but they may not have too many options (Romano & Stafford, 2010). Opting out may not be an option for them, and if they do have that option it could reduce the speed and quality of treatment that these patients would receive. Do they want to risk that, just so they can feel as though their medical information is better protected?

According to the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, the Affordable care Act from President Obama gives consumers more options and benefits when seeking coverage from insurance company. It offers lowering cost as well as gets more access to high quality of care. This law creates Patient’s Bill of Rights that is very effective to protect consumers from any abuses or fraud from insurance company. Some preventive services are available to many Americans especially Medicare recipients at no cost. Not just that, they also receive a special offer of 50 percent discount for any well-known drugs in the market place under Medicare named “donut hole.” The Affordable Care Act helps other organizations and programs to convince healthcare providers

Many concerns and objections have been filed in opposition to the Department of Health (which includes Social Services, Fire and Emergency Management, and Human Services) administrator by departments, citizens, and so on. The City Manager has contracted me regarding: unethical practices, unprofessional leadership, poor fire and emergency response time, unethical practices, insufficient customer and patient care, and much more concerning various governmental departments and external stakeholders. In regards to the latest questions of the City Manager a thorough search into the accusations will be put into play. Supplementary to the issues already being presented, the school board have made concerns to the capability to conduct daily transactions.The school board has a collaborative association with an assortment of government departments and they have levied department directors with non fulfillment to work together on a number of efforts that will be revealed later within this report. This report will provide an underlying support for the City Manager to discourse and perform leadership techniques that outline the actions that should be carried out in order to prevail over the previously mentioned complaints.

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.

Instead of numbering patients from 1-3 and leaving #3s (DNR patients) to die, health care providers could have done same thing as the other hospital in New York. Just because these patients had DNR does not mean the health professionals take away the patients’ autonomy and hasten their death. If they had not numbered the patients and had evacuated all patients equally regardless of their health conditions then some of them may have survived. The medical professionals take a Hippocratic oath to do no harm do the patients, yet some of them at Memorial Hospital gave extra morphine and sedative to the patients. Where was non-maleficence? I mean how is someone destined

“Hospitals are not only required to care for emergency patients, but they also are required to do so in a timely fashion” (Pozgar, 2010, p. 272). “Hospitals are expected to notify specialty on-call physicians when their particular skills are required in the emergency department. An on-call physician who fails to respond to a request to attend a patient can be liable for injuries suffered by the patient because of his or her failure to respond” (Pozgar, 2010, p. 271). Under the doctrine of Respondeat Superior, hospitals are also liable for the actions of physicians working or on-call in their emergency department.

Paramedics have a legal and moral duty to their patients to act ethically and with integrity (Christen, Ineichen, & Tanner, 2014; Townsend & Luck, 2013). Paramedics are repeatedly engaged in confronting situations in which they are forced to make some very difficult decisions. Decisions being made by paramedics are so crucial that require vital skills and abilities to understand and deliberate fundamental ethical principles. By acting in accordance to these principles Paramedics are permitted to attain positive outcomes, for the well-being of patients. These critical ethical principles consist of; Autonomy, Beneficence, Non-maleficence and Justice.

In contemporary society paramedics are often confronted with controversial ethical issues that need to be addressed with effective leadership skills and broad knowledge relating to ethics and law. Also, to be able to practice as a paramedic it is important to act in accordance with the current verified code of conduct for paramedics. Paramedics should continuously update their knowledge with all relevant information about difficult ethical obstacles which may happen, and investigate alternative ways of responding to avoid committing any harmful unjustified actions to patients and the community (Luck, M, 2012 , P. 5). As society continuously changes, laws also change, and so do concepts of ethics. The modern paramedic must perform

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.

Ethics of Emergencies “The Ethics of Emergencies” explains Ayn Rand’s radical and unique view of altruism. She believes that there are 4 consequences of altruism, all of which are negative. These, simply put, are lack of self-esteem, lack of respect for others, a pessimistic view of life, and an indifference to ethics. She says that altruism hinders acts of true benevolence, and instead people act out of an obligation to others that has been internalized over time. Rand then argues that one should only volunteer to help strangers in emergency situations, and even then, only when the risk to one’s own life is less than the risk to the stranger’s. Rand advocates action in such emergencies because of the high value of human life. But Rand

This is the level of care you can expect from an EMT with similar training and in a similar situation.

Unique ethical issues arise in the practice of emergency medicine, and common ethical problems are often more difficult to address in the emergency department than in other medical settings (Pauls, McRae, Campbell & Dungey, 2004). I have worked in Emergency rooms myself both in a combat zone and in garrison where we would provide care to civilian contractors. McAfee health clinic ER was a quiet place but when we received patients it was serious. The population there were of an older group with obvious obesity problems consequently, cardiac patients, diabetes, and falls were our main problems. This base was an extremely small community and everyone knew each other therefore, it is why protecting patient privacy was even more of a major goal

Thus, emergency physicians cannot rely on earned trust or on prior knowledge of the patient's condition, values, or wishes regarding medical treatment. The patient's willingness to seek emergency care and to trust the physician is based on institutional and professional assurances rather than on an established personal relationship. Fourth, emergency physicians practice in an institutional setting, the hospital emergency department, and in close working relationships with other physicians, nurses, emergency medical technicians, and other health care professionals. Thus, emergency physicians must understand and respect institutional regulations and inter-professional norms of conduct. Fifth, in the United States, emergency physicians have been given a unique social role and responsibility to act as health care providers of last resort for many patients who have no other feasible access to care. Sixth, emergency physicians have a societal duty to render emergency aid outside their normal health care setting when such intervention may save life or limb. Finally, by virtue of their broad expertise and training, emergency physicians are expected to be a resource for the community in pre-hospital care, disaster management, toxicology, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, public health, injury control, and related areas. All of these special circumstances shape the

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.

In recent years, ethical and legal principles have been emphasized in the practice of medical practitioners such as paramedics, nurses and biomedical technicians as it is important to build up a solid foundation to protect human beings in relation to the drastic development in the medical industry. In this essay, the two legal principles that I will be focusing are justice and negligence. Besides that, I will be discussing on two ethical principles which are autonomy and confidentiality. As autonomy and consent are tightly connected, the consent of a patient will be included in part of my discussion.