Ethical Directives In Health Care Essay

Ethical Directives for My Health Care Practice

Madeline Chiang

PART ONE: Ethical Principles of Health Care Practice

Statement:

Ethical principles of health care practice are comprised of human dignity, preferential option for the poor, physician-patient relationship, and truth-telling. Human dignity refers to the sacredness of every human being and how each individual is worthy of respect simply by being a human being. Each individual, regardless of race, gender, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, etc., are rational agent, and the right to live is the fundamental right of each individual, which includes the right to healthcare. Individual autonomy should be respected, including their right to informed consent. The preferential option

Physician-patient relationships require both the physician and patient to participate in healing through honesty, respect, trust, and privacy, and should follow the deliberative approach, which focuses on both autonomy and beneficence. Patients have the right to be given all possible information regarding their health and the freedom to consent to which treatment option they desire. During this process, physicians have the patient’s best interest at heart and promote health-related values, but it is ultimately the patient’s decision to adopt these values. Truth-telling refers to saying something that individuals believe to be true regardless of whether or not the matter itself is true or false, whereas lying refers to individuals holding a belief in their mind while saying something else that contradicts their belief. Healthcare professionals should be honest and not withhold information when communicating with patients despite the consequences unless there are extenuating circumstances that may danger the patient. This can help to

When individuals visit their physician regarding certain troubling symptoms, physicians should inform their patients of all information that pertains to their complaint, including the etiology and treatment of symptoms. During this process, physicians can make suggestions to promote health-related values, such as try not to eat fatty foods to lower their cholesterol levels or try not to smoke to prevent lung cancer. However, it is ultimately the patient’s decision to adopt these values or not. This refers to the deliberative model of physician-patient relationships. Some might oppose this perspective as patients visit their physicians for the sole purpose of receiving healthcare and not to change or revise their values. Some patients might even see their physicians as authoritative figures and believe and trust what their physicians suggest, leading to a paternalistic approach of physician-patient relationships. However, medicine is an interdisciplinary field, where the physical, mental, and social components of each individual play a role in their health. When patients see their physicians, one of these components might be out of balance, leading to sickness. It is the physician’s goal to balance out these components, which leads them to suggest the revision of some values. Physicians can also emphasize autonomy, in which they