Doctor’s Corner: Ethics in Healthcare I Healthcare is the field where professionals make the most delicate and responsible decisions, sometimes responsible for the lives of people. Doing so requires all the healthcare professionals to examine a certain clinical case and using all the resources logic, value, and fact to decide the best way to treat them. Although it seems easy, doctors are confronted with complex situations all the time with choosing a certain course of action based on the code of ethics.
Ethics may involve situations like prescribing a placebo, deciding the medicine prescriptions differently, being Patient biased, and a lot of other things that involve human error. The four basic ethical values to check before making a decision are autonomy of the patient, justice, beneficence, and non-maleficence towards patients. Apart from these four, there are others that include transparency, respect for the patient and their families that are valued by some. Ethics normally require a proscriptive standard to follow for the HCPs and provides them the confidence to carry their treatment process.
Moreover, ethics are important for healthcare professionals to resolve family disputes, to have a clear conscience and being respectful to patients and other colleagues. They are also more effective if organizational and personal values are aligned. It just needs a little time for changing the approach towards being more responsible, adjusting the schedule, taking patient information carefully.
There are some values that are universally accepted like patient autonomy and doing what’s best for the patient. The ethical dilemmas refer to times when these both have different opinions. Many physicians struggle with these medical decisions. Religious, moral, and ethical grounds are quite different. While morals are base on authority and strict code, the values, on the contrary, are reasoned with and debatable. Moralities must be put aside while making ethical decisions. Sometimes the patients’ values conflict with the doctors’ values and hence it should be dealt with placing patients’ needs above the doctors’ principles. Moreover, ethically based decisions are normally unconventional and unique but the values deriving them are common.
One might wonder how these values are formed? They form the societal change and education. The trends in medicine changed from the doctor-centered to patient-centered approaches. So values are purely societal related. Although they could be referred to the American Medical Association and hospital ethics committee that provide values and ethical codes for the HCPs.
The clinical decisions are ethical decisions made by doctors. The doctors are expected to uphold it. While upon not holding the values and ethics, the law consisting of judges and legislators might not cater to Ethics. However, certain procedures like taking informed consent are strictly regulated. Further, to keep a check on the ethical standards, medical boards take action on unethical conduct like Abuse or Dishonesty of the professionals. Ethics is a very important part of the doctor’s life. It defines their professional commitment to their occupation and the patients.
Doctor’s Corner: Ethics in Healthcare I The Future of Healthcare