Ethical Decision-Making In Healthcare: Lessons From The Challenger Disaster

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Ethical Decision-Making in Healthcare: Lessons from the Challenger Disaster. Ethical decision-making in healthcare is crucial to ensuring patient safety, well-being, and justice. This paper examines the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster to draw parallels and insights for healthcare administration. The principles of autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice guide this analysis, demonstrating the importance of robust ethical frameworks in decision-making processes. On January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated 73 seconds after liftoff, resulting in the loss of all seven crew members. The disaster was caused by the failure of an O-ring seal in one of the solid rocket boosters, worsened by the cold temperatures on launch day. Engineers at Morton Thiokol, including Roger Boisjoly, had warned NASA officials that the cold could cause the O-rings to become brittle and fail. Despite these warnings, NASA officials proceeded with the launch. The subsequent …show more content…

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