Ethical Theories In Health And Social Care

Ethical theories are ways of telling right from wrong and include guidelines of how to live and act in an ethical way. For example when faced with a difficult situation in your life, you can use ethical theories to assist you in making the right decision. One key theory is consequentialism, which says that an individual’s correct moral response is related to the outcome/ consequence of the act and not its intentions/ motives. Early writers on this theory were Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, a modern writer is Peter Singer. For example Brenda Grey has asked for the asthma specialist to visit her weekly, and to decide if this is necessary the professionals involved have to look at how it would affect her wellbeing. This is done by questioning

This theory is used in health and social care to make choices based on your own morals and what you feel is the correct way in which to behave towards service users and colleagues. The base of this theory is from the work of Aristotle and Plato. For example, Simon has assured Patrick Green that his health status will not affect his status at the centre, which shows he thinks Patrick should still be treated the same as before. This would benefit Patrick as he will not have to worry about what will happen when he returns to the martial arts class, as he already has a lot of other changes happening which he has to adjust

This process could be used to decide whether Jeff should pass on Patrick Green's concerns about him having HIV. The first step is recognising the issue, this would be when Patrick spoke to Jeff about his concerns that he has HIV. Jeff has to balance Patrick’s rights with the rights of the other members of the class, and if he kept this to himself he would be putting others at risk. So Jeff would have to follow step two, which is thinking about which decision is going to have the best outcome and thinking about it before he does so. Jeff followed the virtue ethics theory as knew he had to get Patrick help, but he asked his permission first which was done based on his own morals. This follows the Care Act (2014) as Patrick has been given control of his own care, by having a say in the decision. The next step is deciding a course of action, in this step Jeff has to identify his responsibility and assess how he could reduce any risks. He thinks the best course of action to do this would be to arrange a consultation for Patrick with the sexual health advisor. Step four is testing the decision, and consulting the Equality Act (2010) shows that this would be the right decision if Patrick’s health status is kept confidential, because it may prevent possible discrimination. Simon (the sexual health advisor) assured Patrick that any information about him will be