Normative Ethics In Health Care

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Principles of ethics are one of the foundations in being able to analyze ethics related issues that one encounters with health care. Ethics is very important when your involved in health care because a foundation in ethical theory and ethical decision-making can help in assessing choices that must be made in vexing circumstances (Furlong, B., & Morrison, E. E., 2014, p.3). Meaning, ethics is valuable when working with healthcare providers, patients, their families. (Furlong, B., & Morrison, E. E., 2014, p.3). For example, normative ethics is the study of what is right or wrong, and in healthcare ethical concepts come from normative theories, such as, autonomy, beneficence, justice, nonmaleficence and guide decision making (Furlong, B., & Morrison, …show more content…

There are many test that are preformed when determining brain death these are: Does the patient have normal body temperature without sedating drugs in their system; No purposeful response to stimuli and muscle is flaccid; Is the pupils responsive to light and absence of normal movement to eyes; No movement when cold water is placed on ear drum; There should be no reflex in eyes, blinking, no gag reflex; Lastly, brain stem function, an apnea test to see if when the blood carbon dioxide level rises is their efforts to take a breath (Johnson, C., MD., 2014). When it comes to Persistent Vegetative State (PVS) results differ from brain death. PVS defined as, a patient lost cognition and can only perform certain, involuntary actions on his or her own (Persistent, 2017). Meaning, the lower brain stem is still healthy and functional. A PVS patient can pass the tests used for determining brain death patients. Basically, a PVS patient can have physical reactions and not have an emotion reaction to make physical reaction happen in an external event. In the cases of the three women, this caused an ethical dilemma for doctors and family members because it showed they were still alive medically. Thus, causing uncertainties about their state of consciousness, prognosis, and personal desires which can make them vulnerable and victims of another people’s interest (Bender, A., Jox, R. J., & Grill, E.,