Ethical Issues in Modern Healthcare

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

According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), health care spending in the United States has grown at a rate of 3.7 percent since 2012 to $2.8 trillion, costing the U.S. 17.9 percent of total its GDP and ranking it number one spending on health care (Martin et al 67; world bank). Despite having the most expensive healthcare per capita, according to The Commonwealth Fund - a private American foundation dedicated to the promotion of a high performance healthcare system - the U.S. ranks at the bottom of the top ten wealthiest nations in terms of “access, efficiency, and equity” (Davis

healthcare system preforms inadequately and is ranked 37th in the world next to countries who don’t have the advanced medicine or technology like the U.S. which is terrifying. Among the top wealthiest countries we are dead last and highest health expenditures according to common wealth fund. How is it possible that a country like ours that has all the technology in the world fall short in providing health care? The answer – money, America’s health care has become more of a business than a service. America has, become an over medicated country consumed by greed by private practice insurance and physicians. Unlike other countries where it’s a service provided to its citizens everybody is insured, everybody has access to quality health care at a low cost.

In the last two decades, there have been countless debates on the need to reform the United States of American health care system. The reform is to enable a more comprehensive system that will address pressing issues such as the growing number of uninsured American. The USA is one of the leading countries when in to healthcare and its systems. It is also the country with the most spending when it comes to healthcare. According to an article published in the commonwealth fund, the United States health care system is found to be the most expensive in the world, but it also shows the U.S. underperforms relative to other countries on most dimensions of performance (Davis, Stremikis, Squires, & Schoen, 2014).

As a health care provider, I believe physicians do have the right to refuse certain procedures do to morals or religious beliefs. I have seen as a physician had stated to me "fire" a patient. The reasons he gave were that the patient never showed up for her prenatal visits. A letter was sent to the patient many times about coming to prenatal visits, but she never showed up. When the patient didn't respond, she was let go from that physicians practice. The physician felt morally that he couldn't provide the optimum care for the patient, and it was in the patients best interest to get her care elsewhere. Another physician suggested the patient go to another hospital for care because she wanted only women caring for her, for religious reasons, and only male physicians were working that day. The patient and her husband talked about it and decided to stay, and they ended up loving the care they received from the male physicians. I have also seen many doctors refer early second trimester abortions to a physician that could accommodate the patient. Most

When it comes to the Guatemalan syphilis experiment and the Tuskegee experiment both were two unique experiments. Recently, the United States apologized last year for the experiment, done in Tuskegee which was meant to test the drug penicillin. However, Two years before that, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius made an apology for the experiment conducted in Guatemala. With that said, the researcher rejects the case that a utilitarian could make the case that the Guatemalan syphilis study was more ethically defensible than the Tuskegee study, because the Guatemalan study had greater potential to lead to useful medical knowledge that could save many lives, while the Tuskegee study did not have any such potential (Bonnie Steinbock, 2005). I believe that neither experiment was for medical knowledge or served and medicinal purpose and that

For many years the condition of the United States health care system has been a hot topic for debate. Some would like to believe that the U.S has the best health care system in the world, but unfortunately that may not be the truth. In 2000 The World Health Organization (WHO) released a world health report. The report ranked the overall health system performance of 191 countries; the United States was ranked at 37 out of the 191. “With out-of-control costs, highly inequitable coverage and comparatively low health outcomes, the US healthcare system has failed to provide efficient, dependable coverage for the population as a whole as compared to most European and developed Asian systems” (Blank, 2012). In other developed

Nurses are constantly challenged by changes which occur in their practice environment and are under the influence of internal or external factors. Due to the increased complexity of the health system, nowadays nurses are faced with ethical and legal decisions and often come across dilemmas regarding patient care. From this perspective a good question to be raised would be whether or not nurses have the necessary background, knowledge and skills to make appropriate legal and ethical decisions. Even though most nursing programs cover the ethical and moral issues in health care, it is questionable if new nurses have the depth of knowledge and understanding of these issues and apply them in their practice

The relationship between immigrants and health care is both legal and ethical. This article explores the realities of the United States legal and moral obligations to illegal and legal immigrants in regards to healthcare access. The article examines the Canadian 2011 Federal Court of Appeal's decision in Toussaint- v. Attorney General in which Toussaint was denied medical coverage and it was determined that aliens where unable to receive health benefits. The United States does not provide medical services to illegal immigrants except in certain emergency circumstances to pregnant women and children, in which Medicaid services are provided. The author explores the idea that emergency department expenditures were more than three times as

Community-based services are long-term healthcare provided outside of institutions and are offered in a community environment and/or patient’s home. This encourages a sense of independence while provide the comfort of familiarity for the patient.

Some ethictical challenges that I anticpate is improving access to those who suffer from mental illness. Although mental illness is just as serious as those who suffer from cancer and heart disease many are still reluctant to get involve and actually help with fixing the problem.

Ethical issues may arise in the delivery of health care services. As evidence-bases practices are accepted into mainstream health care delivery, there must be consideration of the potential ethical dilemmas. The Action Plan problem initiative I chose centers on wound care management for elderly patients 65 years and older. Wound care management continues to be a priority for health care as the population ages at a high rate. I chose the Skin Safety Model (SSM) to be implemented to address the wound care management issue. Within the SSM are four domains which examine threats to skin safety in vulnerable aging patients. Because the SSM domains calls for information gathering and assistance from persons other than medical providers, I believe there are ethical issues that may arise as SSM is implemented and evidence is generated.

Interesting most ethical issue within the health care environment, there are so many contrasting opinions or ways to address this topic.

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.