Ethical Dilemma Brief

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Health care administrators are confronted with ethical dilemmas and difficult decision making during their work. As we have already discovered, there are important interactions between ethical behaviors and legal issues. Health care administrators need to understand the relationships as well as the distinct differences. Health care institutions have ethics committees that play a central role in the protection of patients’ rights, the organization as a whole, and its staff.

Imagine you work as a professional health care administrator in a large medical center. You have been asked to present a writing at a professional conference on medical ethics and caregiver-patient encounters. write about a significant physician-patient ethical dilemma in a medical setting, defending the decision and conclusions made.

Below is a resource with multiple ethical case studies that involved patients, their families, and members of the interdisciplinary team. Choose one of the scenarios on this site, or select a case of your own choosing from another resource.

Medical Ethics and Physician-Patient Encounters: Case Studies and Best Practices.
Prepare a brief from the perspective of a lead administrator dealing with an ethical dilemma.
Apply ethical and moral theories to a case study involving a patient and caregivers.
Outline the ethical concerns and potential outcomes in a selected ethical dilemma.
Propose a solution to mitigate the issues raised in a selected ethical dilemma.
Defend the solution from an ethical standpoint.
Use at least three peer-reviewed articles less than five years old.
Provide appropriate in-text citations and a reference section.

Sample Solution

As a healthcare administrator in a large medical center, I am often faced with ethical dilemmas. One of the most significant physician-patient ethical dilemmas that I have encountered is the case of a patient who is refusing life-saving treatment.

The patient in this case is a 75-year-old woman with advanced cancer. She has been given a prognosis of only a few months to live. The patient has refused all treatment, including chemotherapy and radiation therapy. She has also refused to have a feeding tube inserted.

The patient’s family is very upset by her decision. They believe that she is giving up too easily and that she should fight for her life. They have asked the doctors to continue treating her against her wishes.

The doctors are in a difficult position. They believe that the patient has the right to refuse treatment, but they also feel a responsibility to do everything they can to save her life. They are also concerned about the legal implications of continuing to treat the patient against her wishes.

I have met with the patient, her family, and the doctors to discuss the ethical dilemma. We have discussed the patient’s rights, the doctors’ responsibilities, and the legal implications of the case. We have also discussed the patient’s prognosis and her quality of life.

After much discussion, we have reached a decision. We will respect the patient’s wishes and not continue to treat her against her wishes. We will provide her with comfort care and pain management, but we will not force her to have any treatment that she does not want.

This was a difficult decision, but I believe it was the right decision. The patient has the right to refuse treatment, and we must respect her wishes. We also have a responsibility to provide her with comfort care and pain management.

I understand that the patient’s family is upset by the decision, but I believe that they will eventually come to understand why we made the decision that we did. We are all doing our best to care for the patient and to respect her wishes.

I would like to apply the following ethical and moral theories to this case study:

  • Deontological ethics: Deontological ethics is a system of ethics that focuses on duty and obligation. In this case, the doctors have a duty to respect the patient’s wishes, even if they disagree with those wishes.
  • Consequentialist ethics: Consequentialist ethics is a system of ethics that focuses on the consequences of actions. In this case, the doctors must weigh the potential consequences of continuing to treat the patient against her wishes against the potential consequences of respecting her wishes.
  • Virtue ethics: Virtue ethics is a system of ethics that focuses on the development of good character. In this case, the doctors must act in a way that is virtuous, even if it is difficult.

The ethical concerns and potential outcomes in this case study are complex. The patient has the right to refuse treatment, but the doctors also have a responsibility to do everything they can to save her life. If the doctors continue to treat the patient against her wishes, they could be sued by the family. However, if they respect the patient’s wishes and do not treat her, they could be accused of negligence.

I believe that the solution to mitigate the issues raised in this case study is to respect the patient’s wishes and provide her with comfort care and pain management. This is the most ethical solution in this case. It respects the patient’s autonomy and it provides her with the best possible quality of life.

I defend this solution from an ethical standpoint because it is the most ethical thing to do in this case. The patient has the right to refuse treatment, and we must respect her wishes. We also have a responsibility to provide her with comfort care and pain management. This is the best way to care for the patient and to respect her wishes.

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