Ethical and Legal Questions in the Health Care Industry

Ethical and legal questions in the health care industry.

Tony

Institution

 Ethical and Legal Questions in the Health Care Industry

It is well known that the healthcare sector does not possess a clear and elaborate set of ethical and legal guidelines. This observation can be attributed to three main factors which are explained hereafter. To begin with, healthcare procedures and management plans do deal with multiple morbidities that impact on the choice of the appropriate guideline. Thus, there is no set of ethical and legal guidelines that could cover all the possible combinations of medical conditions and interventional eventualities (Mason, Laurie & Aziz, 2006). An example will illustrate this point. A doctor needs to treat a hemophiliac patient with a lung tumor that has started to metastasize, and whose coagulation profile indicates a lack of von Willebrad factor. In such a case, the tumor needs to be surgically removed but the surgical procedure itself predisposes the patient to uncontrollable hemorrhage that can lead to death due to exsanguination. Current guidelines which require that the patient be infused with concentrated factor VIII prior to the surgery are unfeasible in this case, as the infusion would not stabilize the clots, and as such the hemorrhage would continue unabated. In case this patient dies during the surgery, there would be a number of ethical and legal dilemmas. However, it could be argued that the surgical guidelines were followed, and that the operation was ethical since it was meant to prevent an incapacitating tumor from spreading throughout the body, and the risks associated with the operation were acceptable in this case. However, an ethical case can be made regarding the obligation of the surgeon to prevent death in this case.

Secondly, there are several gray areas with regards to ethical and legal guidelines, and as such the understanding of what constitutes a set of ethical and legal guidelines is relative as each healthcare provider would interprets the guidelines as per the prevailing circumstances or as per the accumulated experience and knowledge concerning the utilization of particular guidelines in clinical settings. Finally, the patient has a right to prevent the healthcare provider from applying certain guidelines in the management of the ailment afflicting the patient. Moreover, some confessional healthcare providers (individual or institutions) may have reservations about using certain guidelines in the treatment of their patients, and such healthcare provision institutions may customize their set of ethical and legal guidelines to suit their needs (Jonsen, Siegler, Winslade, Siegler, & Winslade, 2006).  For example, hospitals run by Jehovah Witnesses do substitute blood transfusion with oxyglobin transfusion since the denomination prohibits its adherents from receiving transfused blood.

The lack of a clear and elaborate set of ethical and legal guidelines has some implications on the health care industry. Based on an ethical perspective, the healthcare professional must critically appraise his or her ethical actions in order to assess if such actions would lead to the betterment of the patient (Jonsen et al, 2006).  For example, the cardiologist must ethically appraise the benefits of using a heart valve derived from pigs to replace a malfunction heart valve in a Muslim patient. Though the guidelines state that these swine valve have an excellent outcome in terms of restoring cardiac function, the patient may be disowned by his or her family(especially if they are religious ultraconservatives), and this in turn leads to a lower quality of life. Thus, what from the doctor’s perspective is right may be wrong in the eyes of the patient.

As per the legal requirements, a healthcare provider must not cause the patients to suffer pain, but this may be impossible in cases where the patient needs surgery and as such this patient has to experience post-operative pain which is a consequence of the surgical procedure. Moreover, some patients may stubbornly reject treatment, and as such they cannot be forced to accept the necessary treatment, and if such patients succumb to their ailment, the legal debacle is compounded by the fact that the patient has a right to refuse treatment, and the doctor is required to alleviate the patient’s suffering (Mason, Laurie & Aziz, 2006).

Shifting blames is a reality in the modern professional world. This is due to the fact that many professionals avoid taking responsibilities for their actions. In the healthcare industry, taking responsibility is epitomized by the mantra "every person is responsible for his/her own actions", and as such, healthcare professionals are required to take responsibilities for their actions and the consequences that follow such actions. Lack of accepting responsibility could lead to the legal charges of professional malpractice (Mason, Laurie & Aziz, 2006).

References.

Mason, J. K., Laurie, G. T., & Aziz, M. (2006). Mason and McCall Smith's Law and Medical Ethics. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Jonsen, A. R., Siegler, M., Winslade, W. J., Siegler, M., & Winslade, W. J. (2006). Clinical Ethics: A Practical Approach to Ethical Decisions in Clinical Medicine. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.