L2 Ethical & Bioethical Issues in Health Care (CCKK) PDF

Diploma in Healthcare Please do not reproduce, redistribute or share without the prior express permission of the author. INTRODUCTION TO MEDICAL ETHICS AME 1212 Please do not reproduce, redistribute or share without the prior express permission of the author. Ethical & Bioethical Issues in Health Ca...

Diploma in Healthcare Please do not reproduce, redistribute or share without the prior express permission of the author. INTRODUCTION TO MEDICAL ETHICS AME 1212 Please do not reproduce, redistribute or share without the prior express permission of the author. Ethical & Bioethical Issues in Health Care Objectives: Define the glossary terms. Discuss the Bioethical issues the modern physicians and health care professional faces. Discuss the importance of ethics committees. Define medical etiquette. Early history: Ethics is part of medical profession since the beginning ofmedical practice. In 400 B.C. Hippocrates, a Greek physician called ‘Father of Medicine’ wrote the importance of medicine for his students called ‘Hippocratic Oath’. This code reminds students the importance of medicine. Code of ethics Peoples behavior must match their set of values e.g. discussing patients information with others Code of ethics develop as direct response to atrocities that occurred during war time in the olden days. Due to advancement in medical science and technology, changes in medical profession takes place such as physicians have developed modern code of ethics that serve as moral guide to healthcare professionals Ethics committee Hospitals and any other healthcare organizations or agencies have active ethics committee that examine ethical issue relating to patients care. Healthcare disciplines consist of doctors, nurses, clergy, psychologist, ethicist, lawyers, healthcare administrators with family and committee members Ethics committee serve as advisory capacity to patients, families and staff for case review of difficult ethical issues. They develop and review health policies and guidelines regarding ethical issues such as organ transplantation. Ethics committee examine issues when hospitalization and treatment needs to be discontinued for patients e.g. patients on respirator. Bioethical issues Bioethics – a branch of applied or practical ethics. Term bio means life. Ethics related to moral conducts of right or wrong in life and death issues. Resulting from advancing in medical technology e.g. debates about cloning, harvesting embryos in-vitro fertilization Ethics of transplant rationing – most discussed regarding who shall receive an organ transplant. These procedures are most expensive in medical practice e.g. liver transplant cost RM 350,000 or more in Malaysia. Playing God – removing human body parts from one person and placing them into another body. In certain countries it is legal to remove organs from a deceased person unless the person made any objections. In UK, USA and Europe still committed to the donation model for organs whereby organs taken are only with the consent of the donor, or the donor’s surrogate representatives Determining the allocation of the organs is to give to patients who benefit the best and most which is called Social Utility Method of allocation. It is based on careful screening and matching of the donors with recipient to determine if there is a strong chance of the recipient’s survival. Hundreds of Organs Stolen From Children - ABC News (go.com) Other methods to allocate scarce transplant organ include seniority- first come first served basis. This is not applicable in all angles e.g. heart to a person who do not need most. Combination approach using basic medical suitability which measures the medical need and medical benefit to the individual patient may be used first, than later first come first basis used. United Network for organ sharing (UNOS) is a legal entity in the USA for allocating organs for transplantations. Its value are based on medical utility or need and other half to the consideration of justice. Most people object selling organs. The national organ transplant law of 1984 forbids sale of organs. This law seeks to protect the poor from being exploited since they may be tempted to earn more money e.g. kidney transplant. Chinese doctors jailed for illegal organ harvesting - BBC News Ethical issues & personnel choice ◼ Cases where health care professional may have personnel, religion, or ethical reasons for not wishing to be involved in any particular procedure, e.g. Artificial insemination husband (AIH) or Artificial insemination donor (AID). The Ethics Biomedical research The relief of pain and suffering, the restoration of body function and health and prevention of disability and death are all aims of health care. Medical research almost and always carries some degree of risk. Human beings cannot be used for testing purpose unless they consent to participate. Consent Informed consent is necessary when involved in therapeutic research. The research subject must be aware of all the risks involved with the research even if it means that the patient may decide not to participate. Double-blind randomized controlled trials Randomized clinical trials pose a number of fundamental ethical problems to which morally sensitive investigators must give careful consideration. The randomized double-blind clinical trial is ethically justified and the preferred method of demonstrating therapeutic effectiveness and safety. Conflict of Interest - Can arise if medical researcher’s interest are placed above the interest of the patient. Medical Etiquette - There are certain rules of medical etiquette or standard of medical professional behavior that physician practice in their relationship or conduct with other physicians. THANK YOU