Utilitarianism In Healthcare

I am interested in a career in Public Health and as part of medical science profession guided by a professional code of conduct derived from moral ethics; for this reason, I have developed an interest in ethics and would like to present a brief discussion of ethical theories.

Healthcare professionals face ethical dilemmas on a daily basis. Dilemmas concerning staffing issues, patient care, to end of life issues. When healthcare workers are faced with ethical challenges their person values, past experiences, rules, and culture influence their decisions. At times, our own values and beliefs may conflict with what the patient wants and we then have to find a way to resolve our own moral values with the duty of the profession.

The physician must respect the wishes of the 45 year old man. The patient refuses to receive treatment (blood transfusion). The physician cannot perform this or any medical procedures that the patient has not improved. He informs the physician of his religious beliefs (Weiss and Lonnquist, 2015). The patient has the right to refuse treatment. The patient is fully alert and makes an informed decision. He has not given the physician informed consent to perform the procedure.

The ability of U.S. organizations to be able to compete on a global scale is hampered by lesser developed countries providing workers with the same efficiency at lower pay rates. Working to fix the problem is essential to the future success of U.S. organizations and the success of U.S. citizens. The question is how to address this issue in a way that is ethically representative of our country and those who lead it. According to Princeton economist Paul Krugman one such solution is to provide Universal Healthcare in the United States in turn lessening the financial burden on organizations and the workers they employ. The dilemma this raises is around the ethical boundaries of Universal Healthcare.

In the context of research, ethics is defined as the systems of moral principles that guide human action (1). Ethics is the reflection of the societies ideals of what is right and wrong. It is required in order for research to be valid and published for an ethics committee to evaluate the proposed research question, design and implementations and provide approval in order for a research project to be considered ethical.

Globalization in healthcare is a topic that has been the subject of many debates worldwide. While practically the entire world is becoming a global village due to globalization, the healthcare industry was considered to be invulnerable to this trend. This was attributed to the fact that healthcare is a service industry, where service is delivered on area of purchase. However many developments not only in the healthcare industry but in the entire economical sphere as a whole have seen the aspects of globalization. As a result globalization in the healthcare industry is a common phenomenon in the contemporary world. As the healthcare industry across global boundaries becomes increasingly intertwined,

After considering the system of utilitarianism, it is important to take a close look at the roots and depth of euthanasia as it has infiltrated our society. This will include an in-depth look at the overall idea of euthanasia, a history of the laws that have defined euthanasia, a specific case of euthanasia, and how the decision-making system of utilitarianism can be applied to a specific ethical communicative issue within.

“Doctors and nurses have sworn to preserve life and relieve suffering – but how to do this when the only way to end suffering is to end life?” (Lewis Vaughn, “Bioethics Principles, Issues, and Cases” pp.594) Should there be an upper hand to make these decisions for our healthcare practitioners? Laws have been set in each state that determine the legalization of physician assisted suicide. Although Louisiana is a conservative state when it comes to the issue of physician-assisted suicide, it should be legalized in my opinion. Ethically, there are theories that support this as well as laws given to our practitioners. By rejecting physician-assisted suicide, patients and their families are suffering needlessly.

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

When it comes to the U.S. healthcare system, there are two sides of the argument. Some Americans may argue that the U.S. healthcare system is the best in the world given the many state-of-the-art healthcare facilities and innovative and advanced medical technology available, and there are those who argue that it is too costly and inefficient on many different levels (Chua, 2006). Despite the large amount of spending invested on their healthcare system, the U.S. consistently underperforms on most indicators of performance compared to other countries (Davis, Stremikis, Squires, & Schoen, 2014). Healthcare costs such as doctor visits, hospital stays, and prescription drugs are more expensive in the U.S. than any other country in the world.

In light of these new traits of the society, the health care sector must develop itself and address the new needs of the society. Furthermore, these new needs are not only shaped by the changes in the life style of the population, but other traits as well. For instance, at a demographic level, it is noted that the population ages at a rapid rate and requires more health care. Then, at an economic level, it is noted how the internationalized economic crisis poses new threats and limits the population's access to health care.

Increases in health care spending are not necessarily due to Americans visiting hospitals or physicians more frequently than residents in other countries. Higher health care prices in the United States can be attributed to the increased use of medical technology compared to other countries, the privatization of the healthcare industry, as well as a higher use and cost of pharmaceuticals

During this session, issues relating to disclosure of HIV test result and ancillary finding of genetic testing, as well as the case about release of test result to a patient against his family’s wishes, were discussed. Walking through the series of questions that we could ask ourselves to determine if withholding of information is appropriate was very helpful. It was agreed that checking all the boxes does not mean that withholding information is justified; rather, it is a way to build a stronger argument for the case.

Healthcare costs in the United States have increased dramatically over the last few decades compared to healthcare cost in other countries. In return, this has caused many issues like political reevaluation of our health care system, which involves funding and performance. Furthermore, the reasons for the high health care costs includes administrative costs of running the health care system sine about one quarter of health care costs are associated with administration. Additionally, the United States spends a large amount of money on drugs, professionals and required medical equipment to keep up with patient in need of health care. Moreover, high health care costs are a result of lack of competitive free markets, rapid diffusion of new technologies,

One of greatest moral issues facing society today is that of freedom. Freedom is a principle that this country was founded on at the start of its inception. Freedom is still a cause that requires our attention. The great debate on simple liberties such as the right to decide what happens to one’s body is still an issue that society has failed to resolve. It is a moral quandary that will continue to be discussed and a deliberated on as long as humankind are free moral agents with personal moral preferences. The question is do we allow our personal preferences to impede the decisions of other individuals? If we have the right to have our set of moral preferences do, other individuals deserve that same