Healthcare Ethics Case Study Examples

The question of whether the doctor ordering based on the insurance costs of the patient is ethical presents the need for major consideration regarding the roles of healthcare professionals and their obligations towards those they are helping. The principle of humane healthcare has become increasingly more important over the past few decades in medicine. Humane healthcare presents the need to establish a basic minimum level of care to society as a whole with equity of the people in mind. This presents the importance of humane principles in modern medicine, which challenges healthcare professionals to provide the best possible solutions. It is important that these principles are implemented in a way that “protects the dignity of the individual person” (92). Patient's basic needs are an important principle related to the idea of humane treatment. This idea requires consideration of the specific context of the patient. It is necessary to determine whether the patient has been given the the best possible application of medical care. The idea of humane healthcare therefore demonstrates an important consideration in regards to the question of Dr. Harried's actions.
The principles of practice wisdom and just distribution are also important to the case. This idea presents the need to consider moral or ethical responsibility towards the patient in considering the obligations that healthcare professionals have towards them. This principle demonstrates that the idea that the healthcare professional must provide the best possible care for their patients by applying their practical wisdom to the specific context of their case in order to maintain and “meet the demands of human dignity, satisfying human needs, and recognizing human contributions within the system” (96). In this same regard, the responsibility of care givers to reduce harm and to provide care that seeks to minimize the negative impacts of healthcare is important. Just distribution of care presents a major concern for healthcare professionals. The distribution of health care involves consideration for providing healthcare on an equal basis. This is an important idea in regards to microallocation, or the responsibility of the individual healthcare professionals in helping to distribute care in an equal and balanced way. “The individual, as well as healthcare professions and institutions, must be present in the dialogue” (99). In this sense providing healthcare to those who need it is an important consideration of healthcare professionals. In developing policies and considerations that provide those who need it with access to health care better distribution methods can be achieved. Equality and human rights are therefore an important consideration in the distribution of care. This demonstrates a profound ethical dilemma in regards to the Doctor's actions.
The economic dimension of healthcare should also be considered in this case. While there is an obligation to provide patients with the best possible care, it is also evident that attempting to provide this care for free to everybody would be impossible. For this reason it is important to consider context and accounting for specific points of information in each case. This can be to protect the hospital's existence and to prevent them from the inception of policies could be considered damaging. For this reason, “new mechanisms must be developed to cover those persons without the means to pay, while protecting the existence of these institutions needed to satisfy the needs for care” (103). Professional standards dictate the actions that healthcare professionals are obligated to follow. The code of ethics that institutions abide by should therefore be a source for consideration. This provides a sense of professional accountability that allows them to adhere to specific institutional ethical standards while still maintaining their professional capabilities.. These concepts present healthcare professionals with specific guidelines for their actions. Major ethical concerns regarding death and dying that should be considered are the intentions or wishes of those that are under care. However, in many cases it is often difficult to receive a full account of the patient's wishes. This presents major concerns for healthcare professionals when dealing with patients at the end of their lives. Considerations regarding what services they would want and to what extent are essential to consider for ethical reasons. For this reason, doctors provide their patients with the best care possible while accounting for the economic needs of their profession. Dr. Harried, it seems, is obligated to account for these factors when making decisions concerning their healthcare.
The major ethical issues that are involved with these particular conflicts of interest are the extent to which personal rights are extended to the patients in question. The idea of managed care and the common good is therefore an essential element to consider in this case. As the patient is being treated in the context of the doctor's moral obligations towards their health as well as the overall institutions that he is a part of, there are ethical considerations regarding the personal rights that are extended to those receiving medical treatment as well as the doctors themselves. “the concern to treat the patient properly and to control healthcare costs adequately” (105). In regards to this problem, whether the rights of the patient can be considered as having priority over the reduction of healthcare costs is a major issue. This brings to light the question of whether the right to be provided with the best possible treatment should be considered over the right of the care giver to make personal decisions regarding their idea of best practice. This presents major ethical problems associated with the notion of a patient's rights. In regards to providing them with the ability to make specific decisions regarding their own biological needs brings to light major considerations. This demonstrates consideration for the allocation of resources by the patient. In many cases the patients must carefully balance their financial and healthcare needs. Due to the complexity of this, “there appear to be no clear ethical guidelines for the individual except that all relevant factors must be considered” (107). Issues such as new medications and whether they can be afforded provide further ethical dilemmas as they are able to provide benefits at various costs and this brings up major questions regarding the rights extended to the patient's autonomy to make decisions. The actions of the doctor therefore come into moral consideration.
In considering whether the doctor's ordering of prescriptions based on coverage being ethical it is important to understand the capabilities that these professionals have in modern healthcare. Developments have given healthcare professionals the ability to target specific medical concerns that might lead to higher prices for their healthcare and those of people across the country. This is why it is necessary to establish a dialogue concerning the priorities of public health and whether they should be able to supersede the personal rights of the individual to make decisions regarding their own needs. In my opinion, the humane application of healthcare should be a major consideration as the information that patients are given is attained from tests that they pay for. I have concluded that the healthcare professional has an obligation to provide their patients with the necessary information for them to make their own informed decisions about the care they receive and the costs of said care. The doctor's priorities should be towards their patients just as much as they are towards the economic stability of their profession. Therefore, I believe that Dr. Harried should not be ordering based off of the insurance costs alone. He should be establishing a dialogue with his patients in order to ensure that they are receiving the best treatments for the costs that they are willing to bear. His role in treating patients should be considered a priority over his role in reducing national healthcare spending.