Medical Ethics College Essays Samples For Students

Medical ethics and law are two interrelated disciplines which overlap yet they are distinct and possess unique parameters. For instance, the concept of respect for independence in ethics finds its expression in law as individual liberty which is guaranteed in the Constitution. It is on this background that this paper seeks to compare and contrast the two disciplines so as to highlight the similarities and differences that exist between them.
In medical practice, a number of issues emerge some of which involve and indeed necessitate the need for consultation of the medical personnel with lawyers and medical ethicists. Medical ...

Abstract

Working in a multicultural health care setting calls for a workforce that clearly understand the ethical and legal considerations that exist in relation to culture, beliefs, background, as well as knowledge. While physician and nurses have the upper hand in ensuring quality health care as well as life sustaining measures, the patient holds a very critical role in dictating the care procedures that they prefer. Bioethics studies have had differing approaches to the issue of making informed consent to health care procedures. However, there is one thing that remains untouched. The greatest responsibility is the life if the patients and the satisfaction ...

1. Primary prevention avoids the development of a disease. Promotion activities such as health education are considered primary prevention. True or False (Explain)
It is true that primary prevention avoids the development of a disease. Primary prevention involves all the measures that are taken to prevent any disease from occurring through reduction of the risk factors (Bloom, 1996) Risk factors are the conditions that when present, they encourage the development of a particular disease. Risk factors also encompass certain behaviors and exposures that have a potential of leading to occurrence of a given disease.
Interventions that are taken may include but not ...

1. Indian Council on Medical Research. Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical Research on Human Participants. New Delhi: Indian Council on Medical Research, 2006.
The source provides detailed guidelines for any biomedical research on Human subjects. The central principle in these guidelines is the protection of the human subjects as well as ensuring that they benefit from the results of the research. The guidelines also provides for informed consent by the subjects where possible as a mandatory requirement for research on human subjects. Although the guidelines were developed for research in India the ethical principles and issues regard to research involving ...

Part 1

Objective: in this critical analysis, you are expected to demonstrate an understanding of public health ethics and legal issues. Also, you are required to actively engage with the subject and come up with a substantial perspective on it.

Introduction

This critical analysis will outline the main purpose of the public health ethics and legal issues for protecting and upholding public health. Public policies and social programs are some of the aspects that constitute a good public health. Also, some patients with distinct issues contribute to the wellbeing of the public health, especially in a situation of unethical event regarding health ...

Organ transplantation is one of the significant issues in health care. There are various legal and ethical considerations encompassing this topic. One of the issues evolving the transplantation of human organs is obtaining the consent of the family of a dead donor. Given that the process should be done in soonest possible time, obtaining a consent from the family will take otherwise. That is because, a grieving family member may not be able to make decisions right after her loved one passed away. On the other hand, this is a challenging scenario for the physicians as such consent is ...

Pilot Medical Privacy Laws and Germanwings Flight Crash

The crash of Germanwings flight 9525 en route from Barcelona-El Prat Airport in Spain to Dusseldorf Airport in Germany, which caused the death of 144 passengers and 6 crew members, is considered to be one of the grimmest aircraft crashes in European flight history. The sad reality of this event was that this mishap was caused by the deliberate attempts of a deranged co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, who was being treated for suicidal tendencies and was also declared “unfit for work” by his doctor. The initial investigations done by the BEA (French Land Transport Accident Investigation Bureau) revealed that the ...

Ethics is defined as the accepted rule of conduct within a certain organization. It is a social code of behavior which governs a certain organization or members of a certain group or community. The associations can be a business organization, medical institution or a religious organization. Ethics should be distinguished from morality. Morality is defined as the conduct or the behavior of an individual. On the other hand, ethics is the accepted behavior of a group of people. For example, there were different ethical organizations which have different rules. These organizations include the church, the government, a business organization or a club organization. The ethical standards for members ...

Physician-assisted suicide is a highly controversial topic which tends to polarize people’s views. Around the world, there is much debate in governments about laws regulating physician-assisted suicide, and several countries now allow the practice. There are many strong arguments on both side of the debate and taking all of these arguments into account is helpful when assessing the topic. Against this type of euthanasia, the slippery slope argument asserts that legalizing assisted suicide could lead to desensitization around killing, which could in turn lead to involuntary euthanasia being legalized. Perhaps the most important to a physician, the medical ...

Hippocratic Oath was written by Hippocrates and remains to be the oldest document that binds people in doing what is right particularly the physicians. Its objective is to protects the rights of the patients, by preserving their health as well as their privacy in the best way possible, and it is distinguished by words such as “I will” Hippocratic Oath is today used by graduating physicians so as to abide them by what they should do according to their profession, which is to treat people in the best ways possible by swearing to obey the obligations and conducting professionally ( ...

There is a growing area of concern between the rights of patients and the often necessary practical needs of the students in the medical field. The debate has majorly focused on whether patient’s rights are infringed when a case of negligence or misdiagnosis has happened in a medical facility that has been set up to cater for the needs of the patients and to horn the skills of medical students. Cases of medical malpractice have been on the rise which has led to fatalities and other unplanned costs (Lim, pg. 6). There have been a number of cases whereby patients have lost ...

Introduction

Electronic health documentation (EHR) was introduced under the 111th American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009. The aim was to achieve an electronic health record for every citizen of the USA by the year 2014. The technological change in the nursing field has been met with both accolades and criticism. Those who endorse the method of recording patient information argue that it is safer and more convenient relative to the traditional paper method. The critics argue that the method is open to abuse by the hospital administrators and can be shared without the consent of the owners. Among these ...

Research is essential for the advancement of any field of study. Nevertheless, this becomes complicated when the object of the investigation is a human, as there is an accepted guideline that one should not do harm onto a person. In order to assure proper treatment of humans, ethical committees have arisen in many parts of the world, limiting the research that may be done. However, this comes into tension when one also takes into account the notion of liberty, as the two could contradict each other.
In this sense, some would argue that ethics committees should not interfere in ...

The movie tells the story of Dax Cowart, who was a victim of pipeline explosion at the age of 25. The case of Dax highlights major points in healthcare in case of emergency situations, such as what he experienced. It was a tragic experience for Dax, as the injury that he got was something that made him decide to end his life through the help of his doctors. The physical pain that he suffered was described to be at the highest level during the time of his treatment at the hospital. The first major point of the movie was ...

Like any other business organization, the medical sector has a system of ethics which refers to moral principles that determine principles and rulings regarding the practice of medicine. Medical ethics as a scholarly discipline involves practical applications of the clinical atmosphere as well as application of the principles of philosophy, sociology and theology. This follows that fact that it is important to do right by the superior being, by the established societal morals and what is individually right. For this reason, persons seeking medical assistance (patients) have a right to enjoy their personal freedom while at the same time medical practitioners need ...

Informed Consent in Scientific Testing

‘Instructor’s Name’
‘Subject’
Informed consent is the process of getting the prior consent of the patient, before choices about his/her health care is made. This concept is based on the, rights a patient has on her body, and the ethical duty of the physician to inform the patient about the things happening to her body. The consent might be required both for performing a therapy for the ailment of the patient, or to make them participate in a clinical trial. An informed consent is said to have been obtained from a patient, when she is fully aware of the facts ...

The topic that I was assigned is the physician-assisted suicide. How is physician-assisted suicide viewed by the medical profession? Is physician-assisted suicide legal in the U.S? The ethical dilemma I am examining is, should this be a decision between a physician and the patients, or should it be controlled by the state? I believe this should be a matter that should be left between the physician and the patient.
A physician-assisted suicide refers to a situation where a medical practitioner or a physician facilitates the suicide of a patient. The process involves prescription of a controlled substance thus assisting in a suicide. The topic is very relevant ...

As the top health administrator for Well Care Hospital in Happy Town, USA, I place a great deal of importance on professional conduct within my particular health care setting. Because of the often life-and-death ramifications of the actions of health care professionals in all aspects of the profession, it is doubly important that these officials operate at the highest standards of ethics and professionalism. Allowing hospital misconduct to flourish under my administration would reflect poorly on myself as well as the rest of the staff, and diminish patient confidence and faith in our ability to do our jobs. Consequently, maintaining ...

End of life alternatives: physician assisted suicide and continue sedation

Introduction
Today, many people are dying in hospitals due to chronic disease which often call for a decision regarding the end of life. Sometimes, these decisions lead to the shortening of life and have often roused immense debate based on ethical implications. “Physician Assisted suicide” (PAS) remains one of the most debated subjects in ethical circles. This is whereby the physician provides a patient, at their own request, with a lethal form of medication which is self-administered by the patient. On the other hand, Continuous Sedation (CS) when used at the end of life takes or reduces the patient’s consciousness ...

In this essay I will dwell upon the issue of euthanasia. I will consider different views on this issue and discuss the contradictions that arise in relation to the use of euthanasia in different situations. I believe that passive euthanasia is possible and even desirable to alleviate the suffering of a terminally ill patient, when there is no hope to return the essential functions of his body, provided appropriate control over the lawfulness of the procedure implementation.
Euthanasia is a conscious action, resulting in the death of a hopelessly ill and suffering person in a relatively quick and painless ...

Ethics are moral values which dictate character or behavior of an individual or group. It defends, recommends and systemizes the concept of doing right or wrong doings. Presently philosophers group ethical theories into metaethics, normative and applied ethics.
The video demonstrates couples who faced a moral dilemma which they needed to solve together with the doctors on duty (The Daylen par. 1). The mother had given birth to premature twins. The pregnancy had been just twenty-six weeks. One of the boys had suffered hemorrhage in both brain hemispheres. He could not breathe and thus used artificial respiration. The doctors’ ...

Introduction

Many people would describe ethics as something that is related to one’s feelings about what is wrong and right, while others would say that it has something to do a with person’s religious belief. Some individuals would also say that an ethical person will always act based on the law requires, while others may think of it as the standards of actions and behaviors that are socially accepted. Perhaps, ethics hold various definitions that make many people to define it based on their own perception. In the criminal justice system, ethics is one of the most essential ...

Introduction to Ethical principles

The medical ethics involve a set of four major ethical principles which together form the most widely used ethical framework for clinical and healthcare settings. These four major ethical principles have the potential to incorporate the most crucial decision making in various possible medical ethics involving cases:
Autonomy to be respected for persons: This ethical principle upholds the sanctity of rights for individuals to make their own decisions. Thus, everyone has a right to make logical informed choices and decisions in due course of his role (UKCEN, 2011).
Beneficence: This principle ensures that a healthcare professional should always maintain ...

Introduction

Research revealed that about 5% of rape cases among women resulted in pregnancy. Accordingly, many people consider tragic and undue circumstances such as rape and incest as a valid reason to turn to abortion when pregnancy occurs. Resorting to abortion under these cases, however, has been the subject of incessant debate. Two sides of the argument have been put forward about this theme, with people who believed that abortion is justifiable and those who claimed that abortion is not justifiable in any circumstance. In either way, most people would agree that women should not be made to endure from ...

Interprofessional collaboration has been one of the growing trends within the health care sector lately. It involves interdependence of the different health care professionals such as nurses, physicians, laboratory staff, and even patients. The complexity of the patient-care concerns that need to be tackled by these professionals can be efficiently and effectively addressed through appropriate collaboration among the professionals. However, the various evidenced provided by different researches on the benefits of collaboration are yet to be seen and applied in the activities in health care institutions (Porter-O’Grady, 2011).
As mentioned, nurses are one of the stakeholders who are ...

Ethical dilemma

The ethical dilemma in this case is that a child has been diagnosed with a potentially life-threatening illness, which requires urgent treatment. However, the child’s primary guardian would not consent to the treatment on account of her religious beliefs that forbids medical treatment. While the child’s father agrees that the treatment should proceed, he does not have primary custody over the child, and lives out of state to sign the requisite papers.

Component Parts

The physician’s professional autonomy and the patient’s autonomy are not only in conflict thus legally/ethically barring treatment, but there also is a conflict ...

Since ancient times the Hippocratic Oath has been considered as the code of medical ethics. It could be argued that there is a need to adapt the healthcare system to the needs of patients, taking into account the principles of social responsibility. The basic idea of ​​the new version of the Code of Medical Ethics is to ensure that the amount and quality of care do not depend solely on the solvency and social status of a patient. Apparently, the medical profession is closely related to conscience and ethics, and all patients should be treated equally, regardless of the size of ...

Euthanasia, which is regarded as the practice of voluntarily/intentionally ending life so as to relieve pain and suffering, has attracted a heated debate in the social, medical and religious circles (Heather, 1998). The definition of this term varies depending on the country in question. For instance, in Holland, it is regarded as termination of the life of a patient by a medical doctor following the patient’s approval (Heather, 1998). In the UK, the British House of Lords Committee on Medical Ethics holds the opinion that this is a practice executed with the aim of ending life in order to relieve burdensome suffering ( ...

Nursing

LEGAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES
1.) One of the compelling rights addressed by this case is medical autonomy. The right to autonomy gives the patients the opportunity to exercise reason which means rational reasoning based on a good ground of knowledge and understanding (Coggon and Miola, 2011, p.529). Every person has the right to make autonomous decision and engage in moral concepts. Liberty and autonomy go together. The importance of liberty is the freedom to act in accordance to autonomy. Agarwal and Murinson (2012, p.3.) stated that patient autonomy refers to the patient’s right to the involvement during the ...

The well-known Finnerty case involved a registered nurse going by the name of Ellen Hughes Finnerty and the Board of Registered Nursing. Finnerty made a petition to the board requiring it to withdraw its disciplinary decision for incompetence and gross negligence. The reprimanding was connected to an incident in which the nurse failed to act according to the orders of a resident physician. The order was to immediately intubate a patient in his room. Instead, Finnerty moved the patient to the ICU then performed the intubation. The court found this an incompetent and grossly negligent act and denied her the petition based on ...

Every person has a right to be treated and cared in the medical institutions and it also should be mentioned that he/she is the one who should decide what kind of treatment he/she wants to receive if there is any choice. Speaking about life-sustaining care we should remember that it is the area where it is not that easy to make decisions because usually you have to decide whether to stay in the hospital under some masks and tubes till the end of your life or die immediately. But what if there is no person except for the doctor or ...

Over many years the topic of euthanasia causes mixed reactions in society. Attention to the issue of euthanasia has increased with the development of social progress, and in particular - the technology of life support for seriously ill people. Relevance of the topic cannot be overestimated, firstly, due to the fact that it is associated with the most expensive thing a man can have - his life, and secondly - because of poor knowledge of the problem, its lack of lighting in the works of lawyers and almost and big law gaps in the legislation.
Numerous debates on this ...

Question 1

There are some possible consequences for the proposed acceptable alternatives. The alternative of raising the alarm may not help since the normal citizens who are at nearby might not accept to risk their lives just like Mary’s husband. Even if they are going to offer their help, some patients might suffocate and die because of the delays. The situation at hand requires instant response hence raising an alarm might not be of much assistance. The alternative of calling the emergency department will also have the same consequences. The fire extinguishers might not respond instantly and for that reason ...

Question 1

The case study presents an ethical or moral dilemma. In this case study, Mary, John, and Margaret are concerned with the lives of patients who are downstairs and need help. However, Joseph who is Mary’s husband feels that this is dangerous and vows not to risk his life. Therefore, the ethical dilemma in this case is that these three individuals want to help the patients who are downstairs and require to be rescued but it is very risky since we are told that there is a very thick smoke coming from the building. The two choices that they have ...

RFID devices/ tags have taken the current trend in network systems. RFID tags are implanted into humans and can be used to communicate with a network system through which close monitoring and other tasks can be operated. Such tags can be used in patients to monitor their progress during the healing process (Martich and Worrall 102).

Major advantages

RFID is advantageous in various aspects. The major factor is that the devices are normally concealed within the body. They save a lot of time since many transactions and tracking can be carried out without human interaction. RFID creates confidentiality especially when one goes out ...

Medical Law and Ethics

Law and ethics are different disciplines which tend to interact in different ways especially in the medical profession. Medical practitioners face many issues in their medical practice that require other professionals such as lawyers, ethicists and risk managers to intervene. This is where law and ethics interact with medicine in order to ensure that the medical practices and activities are done in an ethical and legal manner. Medical law and ethics will guarantee safety to all medical practitioners as well as the patients in any medical facility.

Medical law and ethics requires the expertise of medical practitioners, ethicists and ...