The Physician Code Of Ethics

Physician Assistant’s who may also go by the name PA, practice medicine under the supervision of a physician or a surgeon. PA’s must be formally trained and can examine patients, review medical histories, diagnose illnesses and injuries, order and interpret diagnostic tests such as x-rays and blood tests, prescribe medication, document patient progress, and treat a range of ailments (Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, 2014). The physician assistants code of ethics is divided into four categories; Patient independence, goodwill, fair treatment and nonmaleficence (Anderson, J. (2015)). The code of ethics promotes dignity, integrity, honesty and accountability.

For example, the Hippocratic oat, the prayer of Moses Maimonides, the bible, the Holy Koran, and the Islamic legacy, as well as cultures, traditions, and social morality have shaped and guided the development of ethical standards in the medical profession. The majority of these historical documents focus on “avoiding harm to patients” Ethics refers to a professional moral conduct. Ethics, particularly professional ethics, describes the moral actions based on professional character and ethical principles in each profession. The statements of medical ethics require the health care providers to do what is best for the patient and place the patients’ interests before the interests of the physician. Above all, the purpose of medical ethics is to protect and defend human dignity and patients’

A nurse is given an opportunity to help patients, either if its by helping them through a very serious sickness or just helping a patient get to the bathroom on time, or a time when happiness is overfilling the room and a child is being born. Registered nurses provide a wide variety of patient care services (Mitchell, p.12). A Nurse must always know where to begin and where to stop, as any other career in the health field there is always something that cannot be done by everyone but only the certified person, a nurse must always remain inside her scope of practice to prevent any misunderstandings. A nurse must also follow a code of ethics , the code of ethics of the American Association of Medical Assistants states that a nurse should at all times render service with full respect and dignity of humanity, respect confidential information obtained by a patients file, uphold the honor and high principles the profession and accept its discipline, and last but not least always want to improve her services to better serve the health and well being of the community. (Mitchell, p.65).

I feel that an individual should have a foundation in ethics in relation to health care. It is important because the community puts their trust into health care organizations and professionals. According to Flite and Harman (2013), an organization must have a code of ethics in order to maintain the community’s trust.

As briefly mentioned above a code of ethics sets professional morals and ethical principles and offers ethical courses of action to which professionals seek. It also a way that can determine how their actions can be judged. Health information management (HIM) professionals are required to exhibit professional morals when it comes to their engagements with patients, employers, and members of the healthcare team, the public, and stakeholders they assist. A code of ethics is essential in aiding to monitor the decision-making process and can be referenced by people, agencies, organizations, and licensing and regulatory boards, insurance providers, courts of law, and other professional groups (AHIMA House of Delegates) .

Write a short summary of a professional code of ethics, preferably one germane to your major or field (e.g., Code of Ethics of the National Society of Engineers; Code of Ethics of the American Medical Association; Code of Ethics for the Association of American Educators)

Ethical principles provide generalized frameworks that may be employed in the resolution of ethical dilemmas in our daily lives. These principles may be applied to our interpersonal relationships as well as to our professional lives. However, as members of a profession, we will encounter more specific codes of ethics that are designed to govern our professional behavior and to offer some guidance for the resolution of commonly faced ethical issues that occur in the practice of our chosen professions (Syracuse University,

Seventeen centuries after physicians were instructed by Hippocrates to “Abstain from every voluntary act of Mischief and Corruption”, this early oath remains the foundation for most of the ethical codes of healthcare professions. According to Stephen Resnick, exploitation can be defined as “Taking unfair or unjust advantage of another person for one’s benefit or advantage without compensation or benefit to that other person.”

This workshop allowed us to compare codes of ethics from different professions and articulate how; personal, professional values, beliefs, and how perspectives influence ethical decision making. Within our groups, we discussed case

In the mid-19th century, medical codes focused on issues such as not doing harm, not taking life, not revealing personal information, but the codes didn't mention much about telling the truth. The American Medical Association’s code of ethics did state that physicians had a “sacred duty” to “avoid all things which have a tendency to discourage the patient and depress his spirits.” The issue of not doing harm was so important that it was acceptable for doctors to lie in order to not do harm. In the past, telling the truth about fatal or serious diagnoses was assumed to cause harm to the patient, so physicians traditionally did not tell the truth to patients. But times have changed and the importance of patient autonomy is growing. Patients have

Ethics are rules of conduct and moral principles of an individual which have various origins such as family, culture, and social environment. Given the diversity of people in the healthcare profession and the importance of providing care that is ethically sound

The four principles of medical ethics include nonmaleficence, beneficence, autonomy, and justice. These principles were created by Beauchamp and James Childress because they felt these four were the building blocks of people’s morality. Nonmaleficence is to do no harm to others. Beneficence is to care or help others. Autonomy is to respect another’s wishes. These four principles relate to issues surrounding physician-assisted death in many ways. To begin, there are seven individual forms of PAD. They are the following; voluntary passive euthanasia, nonvoluntary passive euthanasia, involuntary passive euthanasia, voluntary active euthanasia, nonvoluntary active euthanasia, involuntary active euthanasia, and physician-assisted suicide. Passive euthanasia is an act in which the health care physician withholds treatment or surgery and the result is the patient’s death. An example of passive euthanasia is a cancer patient refusing treatment and the physician agrees with their decision, therefore the patient dies from the lack of intervention to treat their illness. Active euthanasia is an act in which the health care physician has a direct contact with the patient’s death due to the physician’s act of doing something to the patient in order for them to die. An example of active euthanasia is an injection of potassium chloride. Voluntary is when the patient is requesting assistance to die. Nonvoluntary is when the patient is not requesting assistance and their wishes are unknown

The Code of Ethics furnishes a definitive model of conduct. The standard of conduct is entrenched in associations, affiliations, confidentiality, and commitment with health care professionals. The Code of Ethics for healthcare quality professionals is dedicated to routine enhancement and preserving integrity by identifying individual accountability and ethical obligation to patients, medical providers, employees, health care organizations, and the community (Oddo, 2011). Ethics are not voluntary in the health care field. They are a vital and central part of medicine. Ethical codes form and assemble moral atmosphere and allotting the ethical accountability and

Ethical Codes are in use today by many organizations to clearly establish their values and provide a procedure if a code violation occurs. Medical ethics began as a professional code for physicians and has now expanded and includes a variety of health care professions and health care organizations. The growth of medical knowledge and technology have grown so have the concerns that ethical standards and issues facing our society today may be compromised or not appropriately addressed (Littleton et al., 2010).

A code of ethics is a set of written principles regarding conduct and behavior created by the organization to serve as a guide. The purpose of ethical codes is to give its employees, management, and any interested party a reference point that adheres to company policy, standards, and ethical beliefs. The code is made visible to the public to ensure professional integrity, quality, and to prevent misguided conduct. Regardless of the organization or governing body a code serves as a go-to guide because ethical issues can stem from anywhere at any given time. The Code of Ethics for Nurses is so dynamic because as technology changes, so does the code to ensure that updated knowledge is provided to healthcare workers as they address new ethical