Ethics Case Summary And Ethical Issues In Health Care

I must be aware, as the patient’s advocate, of the choice of each individual patient regarding his or her medical management or, as in this case, the withholding of treatment.

It is more common for parents to give consent to hospitals to perform lifesaving operations on children, but some parents will resort to a deep belief in a religious miracle. Parents have no right, based on their religion to choose or to refuse medical treatment for their children. In no way is it right for a developing child to be subjected to the opinions of his parents when his life is at risk.

In healthcare, it is important to establish an informed consent. Informed consent is a process by which a client or client legal representative and the healthcare provider engage in a discussion about a course of medical treatment. It includes the risk of treatment, benefit, possible harm and consequences as well as alternatives provided by the healthcare practitioner or physicians in an understandable manner (Blais, K. & Hayes, J. S., 2016, p.85). Informed consent takes into consideration the safety of the patient. It allows the patients to ask questions about the procedures and discuss any concerns; by doing so can help improve patient outcomes and prevent medical errors.

Prescription painkiller addiction has become one of the fastest growing addictions in the country(drugaddictiontreatment.com). Since 1990, deaths in the US from unintentional drug overdoses have increased by over 500% (ideas.time.com). People have been using painkillers as drugs because they believe it is safer than using illegal street drugs. Pain is a hard thing to manage because everyone has a different pain tolerance. There is a responsibility between both physicians and patients to use it properly to cause both to be at fault for overdose.

An additional myth, “All that matters is easing my pain” (Hitti) which isn’t necessarily true. Yes, helping relieve the pain is the goal, but not the only goal. For those who have the mentality of thinking that the only target of prescription medication is pain alleviation are at a higher risk of addiction because they don’t realize the amount of medication they ingest while trying to avoid the ache. Last, but not least, “I am a strong person. I won’t get addicted.” Fisherman explains, “Addiction isn’t about willpower, and it’s not moral failure, it’s a chronic disease and some people are genetically more vulnerable than others.” (Hitti) As stated earlier if your family has a history of addiction there is a greater possibility of you having a dependence towards controlled substances. With all these myths, along with several more proceeding, physicians should be required to inform the patients of all potential issues, such as addiction, if mistreating prescription

When one feels that they are experiencing pain, anxiety, or sickness whether it is mild or severe, one quick and easy solution is to head straight to the doctor’s office. A patient will describe his or her symptoms of pain to the doctor and more likely than not that doctor will prescribe the patient some type of prescription drug or pain reliever. Writing patient prescriptions and taking drugs for pain has become a socially acceptable standard in society and has also become an essential part of medicine. Today, Americans are spending millions of dollars every year on drugs, both illegal and legal, and both for medical and often non-medical use. However, what many do not realize is that the widespread increase of drug using in America

Many addictions to these opiates are caused by inaccurate treatment of pain by the patient’s doctors. According to Andrea M. Garcia, “Treatment of pain is inadequate due to uncertain diagnoses, societal stigma, the lack of effective treatments, and inadequate patient and clinician knowledge about the best ways to manage pain. Prescription painkiller overdose has reached epidemic proportions over the past decade.” When patients visit a doctor’s office due to pain, they often do not elaborate on the pain they feel or give accurate diagnosis of the pain they are experiencing. Patients will often over exaggerate their pain level in order to be prescribed higher doses of narcotics. Shoulder or knee pain is a very common complaint. Patients who

It’s a societal norm to seek out a physician when you are in pain, and society’s expectation is that the physician will do something about it. Sadly there will always be those who abuse the systems in place. The National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2011, found that approximately 52 million people have used prescription drugs for non medical reasons. Statistics show that roughly 80% of heroin addicts initially misused prescription opiods (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2015). There is always potential that taking prescription opiods can lead to patient abuse. “Unintentional overdose deaths involving opioid pain relievers have quadrupled since 1999” (U.S Department of Health and Human Services, 2011).

She said to be officially diagnosed with ASD our son has to go through a two stage process. I couldn’t believe this, my immediate thought was what could have done to cause my child to be diagnosed with ASD? As parents, I wondered where we've failed to protect our child. My husband had shifted his focus to be solely on our son and not if I failed as a mother.

On the other hand, parents should lose their ability to make medical decision for

medication was given to the child, with the medication type and quantity. If a child was to become

Although chronic pain patients have a low risk of addiction to opioid drugs against, but many doctors who have a fear of drug abuse, making it difficult for patients to get the medicines they need.

Now, this is not to say that parents of young adolescents should not have a say in what kinds of treatments their child gets. It would be immoral to tell a parent that he or she cannot decide what is right for their child, especially if their child does not have the mind capability to respond to treatment methods. Such as in the movie when Lorenzo’s mother wanted to keep moving on with treatments even though Lorenzo had become a vegetable. Michaela did not want to give up hope that Lorenzo would make it out alright, which is fine for a parent to do. That being said

At today’s visit she is accompanied by her parents. She is awake, alert and oriented. I spoke with the patient’s father in private who relays that the patient recently saw a GI specialist, which has given the patient hope, the patient’s father request that hospice or advanced directive not to be discussed with the patient. The patient reports that

It is important not to treat a medical condition without a written consent because if the