Health Care Dilemmas

We are culturally ingrained from an early age that life is precious and each day is a gift. Life should not be squandered but preserved.  We are encouraged to live with a purpose, cherish our loved ones and live life to its fullest. But what if life becomes too physically painful to endure, often experienced by many terminally ill patients suffering an incurable disease, or a chronically ill elderly person who lacks the ability to thrive?  For forty-five day’s I watched my chronically ill mother languish away in a hospice care facility. The experience was emotionally and financially draining, and I began questioning whether a person should have the right to choose when and how to end their life. In the United States, assisted dying is a widely debated and passionate issue. Opponents argue preserving life, regardless of how much a person is suffering, is an ethical and moral responsibility, determined only by a higher power.  At the other end of the spectrum are those who support a person’s right to end their life with dignity at a time of their choosing.   Wouldn’t my mother’s suffering been greatly reduced if her doctor was legally and ethically permitted to administer a lethal cocktail of drugs to end her life quickly and painlessly? Wouldn’t the prevailing memory of my mother see her in a better light instead of helplessly watching her undignified death? To deny terminal and chronically ill people the freedom to end their

In “The American Health Care Paradox”, Elizabeth H. Bradley and Lauren A. Taylor explore why the American health care system achieves mediocre results, despite spending a higher percentage of its gross domestic product than any other country in the world on health care. They explain that health care is more than just getting medical treatment, but there are social factors that affect a person 's health. The authors claim that more government spending on medical treatments is not the solution to the health care paradox, but we should focus more on social needs that have a greater impact on health. Case studies and interviews with physicians, other health care providers, and social service providers are used to support the authors’ claims. Though the authors do not explicitly state the path they believe the American health care system should follow, they give examples of foreign health care systems and domestic health care projects that may point in the right direction.

Because the United States spends the most on a health care system, one would think that most people in the U.S. would be healthy. This is not the case. Surprisingly, the United States does not have a particularly high life expectancy rate. Within this paper I will discuss heath issues in the United States including how heath effects behavior, economics, and social structure. I will also include key stages of medical technology development and population demographics.

Many ways are used to measure how much Americans values life. Obviously, good health is a major factor of being happy and satisfied with an Americans’ life. People also place family, friends, and owners potential is very high on the list of value for health care insurance. Health care has become the stress to every person’s life. Health care controls everything a person does due to the draw backsdrawbacks of not having it when it is necessary, like breaking an arm or coming down with a deathly illness. You have to introduce your quotations “Health care reform will be on the agenda for future sessions of Congress, because the economic pressures of rising health care costs on the federal government, business, and

The issue of healthcare coverage under the federal health reform has been politically debated by many Americans, including the current Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. The healthcare reform enacted in 2010 under President Obama’s regime intended to support the ongoing healthcare system as a building block to enhance more access to health insurance coverage for millions of uninsured Americans; yet the government’s tireless effort to ensure all individuals are covered remains a major issue across the country.

Making the decision not to exercise one’s right-to-die approach comes at a heavy cost. Davila (63) argues that the high costs that those seeking futile healthcare for the most inevitable deaths is an issue that can no longer be sidelined. The expense is not just

The American healthcare system is an ongoing ailment that is at the forefront of issues plaguing America. Unlike the rest of the world, the American healthcare system is a combination of several models that caters for distinct classes of people. Other countries, such as China and Switzerland, have adopted a one-size-fits-all model in which everyone falls under. This model is a more straightforward as well as cheaper approach to America's healthcare system.

Healthcare reform continues to be a topic of discussion among politicians, medical professionals, and many Americans who are struggling to pay for care in a system where costs are skyrocketing out of control. Consequently these costs are forcing many Americans to file bankruptcy due to the massive amount of medical debt that they owe, slowing our economy and reducing reimbursements for medical facilities (Khazan) The debate on how to fix health care continues, even after the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010 to help begin our national journey to fix health care in America.

People who die of a prolonged illness or had a predictable steady decline due to a condition like heart disease, diabetes, or Alzheimer’s disease account for ninety percent of deaths each year (Girsh 45). Most of the people who died suffered greatly because of their disease. However, if euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide was legal, the suffering could have been severely lessened. People who oppose both options have many reasons why euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide should not be legal. The Hippocratic Oath, the fear they could be abused by the poor, Nazi-styled teachings might return, or people may feel coerced, and the right to die is not an actual right are a few examples of what the people who oppose euthanasia or physician-assisted

ObamaCare, also known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, is a Health care reform law that was signed on March 23, 2010. ObamaCare’s goal is to provide more Americans with affordable health care insurance. ObamaCare also hopes to improve the quality of healthcare and health insurance in America, regulate the healthcare industry, and reduce the cost of healthcare in the United States. ObamaCare is made up of ten titles; I: Quality, Affordable Healthcare for all United State Citizens, II: The Role of Public Programs, III: Improving the Quality and Efficiency of Healthcare, IV: Prevention of Chronic Disease and Improving Public Health, V: Healthcare Workforce, VI: Transparency

Healthcare sits at the center of a major debate in America today. There are a number of questions that surround this debate. Some argue that healthcare should be a right that people are entitled to, while others argue for a system where healthcare is more of a luxury. Overall, the political environment surrounding healthcare in America has been shifting and also the topic of much consternation over the last three to four years. In order to understand this particular situation, one must approach it from a number of different sociological perspectives. Specifically, functionalism, conflict theory, and interactionism can help to provide a framework in which one can analyze the actions, thoughts, and perspectives of actors on all sides of the healthcare situation. Functionalism theory can explain why many believe that healthcare is such an important element for society to strive toward, conflict theory can help to explain why there is opposition to this concept, and interactionist theory can explain why Americans have attached so strongly to both sides of this debate, as certain symbols have become important to those people, and in some cases, has become more important than the principles that tend to underlie this particular debate.

A Canadian study determined that terminally ill patients were most concerned with existential suffering as a result of deteriorating health status and the inability to make their own medical decisions. Health care should be structured in a manner that allows the patient to make fully informed decisions and we should legally be able to respect them. As nursing students, we have been taught the importance of providing care in a manner that empowers the patient and supports patient autonomy. Healthcare is no longer paternalistic and the patient has the right to make informed decisions regarding treatments, medications and ultimately the right to live. Denying the patient’s rights to make decisions about their own life serves nobody’s interests. The Supreme Court is delaying making the final decision regarding Medically-Assisted Suicide due to the fact that there have been physicians that strongly oppose the act and 63% of physicians have voted that they would not participate due to conscientious objection. Some physicians feel as if legalizing an act of allowing the patient cause themselves harm would compromise the physician-patient relationship, however data from a state that has legalized medically assisted dying shows that patients are more likely to become upset by physicians who oppose and refuse medically assisted suicide more than by physicians who support it. Ultimately, due to their wishes not being respected and refused due to the beliefs of the

Earlier in 2015, this issue received nation attention when a 29 year old terminally ill women made the chose to die on her own terms. Having no cure for the disease, a disease that would continue to cause her great pain and discomfort as the disease progressed, she along with the help of her family made the decision that when the time came she would take her life under medical supervision. She argued that it would be unfair and devastating for her family to watch her suffer while medicine prolonged her life. She argued that it was unfair of laws in the state she resided that would require she suffer and endure pain instead of supporting assisted suicide. “Advances

With the presidential elections coming up, the issue of health care coverage will definitely be a hot issue for debate. The people behind the website called Barack Obama created a webpage specifically for detailing how President Barack Obama will be a better candidate for what happens to health care. There are three videos on the webpage that show people who have been affected by the president’s Affordable Care Act. In these videos aimed towards the voters of America, Barack Obama frames those who are in dire need for access to health care as situations that can happen to any American citizen, in order to gain more votes for President Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election.

Currently, the issue of health insurance has been a bone of contention for the public regarding whether the United States government should provide this health plan or not. People often possess different perspectives and refer to pros and cons on both sides of the spectrum. While some believes a universal healthcare system will set a foundation for a lower quality of service, increasing governmental finance deficit, and higher taxes, others do not hold the same thought. A universal healthcare system brings enormous advantages rather than disadvantages, such as all-inclusive population coverage, convenient accessibility, low time cost, and affordable medical cost, all of which not only provide minimum insurance to the disadvantaged but also improve the efficiency of medical resources distribution.