Utilitarian vs. Deontological Viewpoint: Confidentiality Operation of a Health Care Provider Health Care Provider is a very substantial field in health care as it is the procedure for caring for, or nurturing for an individual known as the ‘patient’. It also refers to the roles and duties carried out by persons who have had formal education and training in the art and science of health professionals. Existence critical in the health care field, certain roles and practices are being perceived by care for in order to more effectively and more efficiently provide services to their patients. To further provide acceptable service to their patients, health care providers, also have to witness moral and ethical values and practices, as ethics and morals may serve to provide dilemmas and conflicts in translation adequate service to patients.
In addition, ethical values and morals must be appropriately given importance and significance in the health care, providing practice to ensure that the welfare and health of the patients would be given priority, thus, protection and promoting the moral aspect of the practice. As such, this essay aims to choose whether a deontological or utilitarian viewpoint would be essential for a particular situation of reality important of a health care provider. In this regard, both concepts would be briefly distinguished, to be able to make a choice, as being applicable to the situation at hand. Subsequently, principles and alternative
In health and social care sector, health care professionals take into account four key ethical principles when providing service to the service users. The key ethical principles are justice, autonomy, beneficence and non-maleficence. In health and social care settings people must be treated fairly without being judgemental regardless of who they are or where they come from. Health care professionals must allow their service users choose the type of services or treatment they want and the professional should support them in getting quality care that will benefit their service users. Also, health care professional must not
Health care ethics is not only limited to factors that directly give rise to ethical issues such as not respecting a patient’s autonomy, and the beliefs and values of persons directly affected by decisions on the treatment of a patient. Ethical dilemmas are also posed by factors considered as indirect yet, very influential on health care ethics and can bring about a major ethical challenge. These indirect factors are considered to be external factors that influence health care ethics. These external factors can emanate from a sector such as the economy within which, is a great influence from market forces such as
Ethics is a strongly culturally linked area of philosophy interrelated with what is considered acceptable human conduct. There are two branches of ethics; medical ethics and bioethics. The moral conduct and principles which govern practices of medical and health professionals falls under medical ethics, whereas in biomedicine and the health sciences theorised developments in the study of social and moral issues is considered bioethics(1). There are two philosophical principles within the conduction of health care research these are deontology and utilitarianism. Deontology is an approach to ethics that focuses on the rightness or wrongness of actions themselves, as opposed to the rightness or wrongness of the consequences of those actions (2). Utilitarianism states that the most benefit
Moreover, an emphasis is imposed on the rights of a single patient to commit an act or decision even though it is in contrast with the views of the others. In regards to the ethical dilemma, a nurse could not justify the morality of the two possible choices based on their results and consequences. The Deontological approach would encourage the health care staff as well as the patient to ask themselves the most righteous choice for their situation. With this in mind, a combination of ethical theories can also be employed to give light to the dilemma. In view of this, another ethical approach could be applied to solve the issue, and this is the Right-based approach. This theory also aim to promote the rights of every person, and that, they are indispensable just to make ends meet. However, not all ethical theories can be incorporated in every dilemma in a health care setting because their foundations would contradict one another. In order to provide an effective and efficient solution, nurses should be knowledgeable of the principles enveloping each of the ethical theories and should be wise to apply them in appropriate issues and
Healthcare provider’s perception and judgment in the patient’s well being as well as taking into account the right of the patient in every action is one of the key elements in nursing practice. International Council of Nurses (ICN), (2006) states “The nurse at all times maintains standards of personal conduct which reflect well on the profession and enhance public confidence” (p. 3). Furthermore, nursing action guided by theory and principles of moral and legal
Philosophy consists of two major theories which aim to deny and validate moral rules and principles: deontology and utilitarianism ethics. These two perspectives give philosophy its wide range of concepts and decisions to frame our lives, giving structure to what we believe is right and wrong. More often than not, these concepts bring argument to what has already been set in stone by tough, controversial philosophers such as Immanuel Kant and Jeremy Bentham due to the nature of the topics and sensitivity they cause. In this essay, I look to discuss the trolley example in relation to deontology and utilitarianism; what each of these concepts tells us about the best way to behave in the example, and concluding with which concept is right?
Medical ethics and legal issues have been a key topic in medical field for many years now. It is important for medical professionals to understand the importance of the way we care for patients, it is therefore important to be knowledgeable and aware of the medical ethics and legal issues that govern good patient care. Health care professionals must make decisions based on ethical and legal issues to performance their regular duties. However, Medical ethics is not only about avoiding harm to patients. It is rather a norms, values and principles (Ethical theories 2015). Therefore norms, values and principles are intended to govern medical ethical conduct. Ethics is defined as “a standard of behaviour and a concept of right and wrong beyond what the legal consideration is in any given situation”. In another words medical ethics is a discipline that used to handle moral problems coming out the care of patients. Law is another important discipline that often comes together with medical ethics. Law defined as a “rule of conduct or action prescribed or formally recognized as binding or enforced by a controlling authority”. Government imply law to keep the society running smoothly and to control behaviour that could threaten public safety. Medical professionals have to often prioritise these terms before making any clinical decision. The following findings will constructively emphasise on medical ethics, its
Nurses faces ethical dilemmas on a daily bases and even though the nurse is competent in her skills and her ability to care for culturally diverse patients, the dilemmas still remains. The reason why is that no matter if the with every ethical decision you make, the end results will always be right or wrong depending on the persons personal culture. The purpose of this paper is to discuss ethical dilemmas with the current state of population along with health disparities. In addition, the discussion of the pros and cons of the foundation of the Affordable Care Act and how it affects people culturally. Last of all; explain how social justice principles and rights of humans may reduce health disparities.
Utilitarianism is the principle that the correct form of action be taken to benefit the greatest number of people. Deontology is defined as the area of ethics involving the responsibility, moral duty and commitment. Both utilitarianism and deontology deal with the ethics and consequences of one’s actions and behavior despite the outcome.
Ethics is an essential aspect of health care practice and those working in the nursing profession are often subject to frequent ethical dilemmas. It is essential for all nurses to be aware of the importance of ethics in health care and to practice within the ethico-legal parameters that govern the profession. However, while this is relatively easy in theory, ethics is not a black and white subject and often one’s culture, upbringing, attitudes and beliefs can influence what one views as ethical and this can therefore influence practice. This report will discuss the importance of ethics in nursing practice. The definition of ethics will firstly be presented followed
The ethical theories of deontology and the branches of utilitarianism; act and rule, display similarities and differences within the meanings of both. Act utilitarianism theory is the focus on the outcome of an act. Rule utilitarianism is the method of an individual’s actions. The theories of deontology and utilitarianism both present moral rules and values. Deontology focuses on the motives of an action, whereas utilitarianism centers more on the end result. The Act utilitarianism theory is more effective by judging the morality of an action based on the consequences of its outcome.
While utilitarianism theory focuses on the consequential view the deontological theory of ethics is based around a nonconsequential approach to the topic. According to deontological theory an act being morally right or wrong is due to something other than the consequences. Deontological ethics requires people to do the right thing simply because it is the right thing to do – regardless of the consequences. Consequences can never be an adequate justification for an act (Ferrell, Fraedrich, & Ferrell, 2013 p. 158-159). Fundamental to deontology theory is the idea that equal respect must be given to all persons. Is the case study example a deontological approach should have been undertaken to promote employees within the organization. This was
Kant’s theory of deontology and Mill’s theory of utilitarianism provide starkly different approaches to assigning moral value to ethical dilemmas, two modern dilemmas being commercial surrogacy and physician-assisted suicide. This essay will expound upon the process of deciding moral value within each ethical theory and then apply this decision process to the two ethical dilemmas. Arguments will be posited in support or in opposition to the proposed ethical dilemmas according to the ethical theories. The discussion will revolve around the theories as proposed by the specific authors mentioned above in their relevant works.
Describe the main principles of the two normative ethical theories of deontology and utilitarianism. Compare and contrast the two theories, bringing out any problems or limitations you see in each.
Business is a changing scenario and it has different principles and rules in different environments. To perform a business, there is required a set of principles and rules to be based, so that the actions taken are proper and produce the desired results. (Shoemaker, 1999)Utilitarianism is an ethical theory for ranking various outcome from interpersonal stand point .it is a concept which is based on the theory of performing the right action to produce the right consequence where the benefits are maximised and sufferings are reduced to a minimum. (Gaus, 2001)Deontology is a theory in which only right making properties are good promoting properties. Which is based on being acting based o morality and having a correct motive which ends in all good and no bad.