...A Final Wish of Death A final wish of death should be granted when life has come to its last chapter and all that is sought is a peaceful passing. The decision between a physician and terminally ill patient to hasten their death should be accepted and granted. A terminal illness can be described as an incurable disease which will end the life of the sufferer. If death is inevitable, why must we wait for natural causes to occur? Physician-assisted deaths should be legalized in all states so that the terminally ill can request a final act of dignity. “Physician-assisted death is defined as the physician providing the means for death, most often with a prescription. The patient not the physician will ultimately administer the lethal medication” (Braddock & Tonelli, 1998). If a patient can come to a decision when it is time to stop treatment for their terminal illness, they should also be allowed to choose when to bring death. End of life care has become an equally important issue to physicians as well as the patients. If physician-assisted deaths were permitted in all 50 states, physicians could openly discuss end of life wishes with their patients. With all the advances in modern medicine, people are living much longer which allows for a higher risk in developing a terminal illness. A few examples of terminal illnesses are cancer, strokes, Alzheimer’s disease, renal failure, and heart failure. With increasing numbers in terminal illnesses...
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...know that the term "business ethics" came into use in the United States in the early 1970's? Ethics and morals has been around for hundreds of years and can be traced very far back. By the 18th and 19th centuries, medical ethics emerged as a more self-conscious discourse. In England, Thomas Percival, a physician and author, had crafted the first modern code of medical ethics. He drew up a pamphlet with the code in 1794 and wrote an expanded version in 1803, in which he coined the expression "medical ethics". "Construed broadly as moral reflection on commerce, business ethics is probably as old as trade itself. If law is a rough guide to widely-held moral intuitions (Gooden 1985), the Code of Hammurabi (1700s B.C.), prescribing prices and tariffs and laying down both rules of commerce and harsh penalties for noncompliance, evidences some of civilization's earlier attempts to establish the moral contours of commercial activity. Aristotle's Politics (300s B.C.) addresses explicitly commercial relations in its discussion of household management. Judeo-Christian morality, as expressed in, e.g., the Talmud (200 A.D.) and the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:2-17; Deuteronomy 5:6-21), includes moral rules applicable to commercial conduct." (DeGeorge, Richard. 2005, Business Ethics). The idea of business ethics caught the attention of media, academics and business firms at the end of the Cold War in the United States. "People sometimes forget that business ethics at its core is about excellence...
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...Death with Dignity If we assume that every human being born into this world has a "right to life," then it logically follows that every human being has a right to end their life (or a "right to die"). Because death is a part of life, a person's right to life logically assumes a right to not have that life. Thus, any law upholding a person's right to life has inherent within that same law a person's right to die, otherwise it would not be a right to life in the true sense of the term. But there is a legal battle going on in America right now over whether or not a person has a right to die. Does the government have the right to prolong your life by artificial means whether you desire it or not? With the passing of this law nationwide, you, as the voter will simply be saying, “It is YOUR choice” (Patashnik, 2004) The issue of “Having a Personal Right to Die,” has been long simmered beneath the surface in legal and political circles: under what circumstances do terminally injured and ill Americans have the right to choose to die? The Supreme Court made a definitive statement in the landmark 1990 case Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Dept. of Health that severely injured patients have a constitutional right to refuse medical treatment and die. But the court also ruled that states can require "clear and convincing" evidence of a patient's intent to forgo medical treatment, a rather high evidentiary standard to meet. History The actual word for “having a right to die” is Euthanasia...
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...Ethics in the Marketing of Medical Services STEPHEN R . LATHAM, J.D., PH.D. Abstract This paper deals with the ethics of marketing medical services by physicians, medical groups, hospitals and other mainstream medical caregivers in the United States. It does not deal with pharmaceutical marketing, since that raises a number of special issues, some of them legal and some having to do with the unique culture of pharmaceutical marketing, which really ought to be dealt with separately. Nor does it touch on the little-explored field of marketing alternative and complementary medicine. It begins with a general description of what is included in "the marketing process." It then briefly tours some of the difficulties faced by those who would market medical services ethically, and ends with some conunents on the relevance of professionalism to ethical marketing. Key Words: Professionalism, medical marketing, market competition, health care, product, placement, price, promotion, ethics. Marketing 101: The Four P's the idea of "marketing" with promotion and advertising. But in fact, "promotion" is only one of the famous "four P's of marketing" taught in most business schools. The first step in any marketing plan is to determine the nature of the Product (or service) one wishes to sell. Next, one determines its Placement, the distribution channels through which the product or service can best be made available to the consumer. Then, one attempts to determine the Price at which the...
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...Physician Assisted Suicide: Why It Should Not Be Legalized Samantha Davis PHI 208 Ethics and Moral Reasoning Prof. Paige Erickson November 30, 2015 When considering what physician assisted suicide is and what the long term effects could be of legalizing it in all fifty (50) states, one would need to ask if a physician should be given the right to administer a lethal dose of medication to a patient with the sole intent of ending said patient’s life? In 2006 the United States Supreme Court held in “Gonzalez v. Oregon (2006) that the Federal Controlled Substances Act does not allow the U.S. Attorney General to prohibit doctors from prescribing regulated drugs for use in PAS (Physician Assisted Suicide)” (Gloth, n.d.). There are many people that feel as if there is nothing morally wrong or right with “killing” or “allowing” someone to die so to speak, by way of a lethal dose of medication or injection. Physician assisted suicide is a means to bring an end to a terminally or chronically ill patient’s life by administering some form of medication either by injection or by mouth. While this could be considered one of the most pain free options, it is still not a viable reason to commit suicide. A Utilitarian would argue that by doing what causes the greatest happiness to a person should be done. When looking at physician assisted suicide from this view it is easily understood that PAS (Physician Assisted Suicide) is a means to an end, an end of a life. By forcing an end to the...
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...Placing Value on Life: Is One More Valuable Than Another? Cheanel Nolden Introduction to Ethics & Social Responsibility SOC 120 Professor Elizabeth Tinch August 15, 2013 A woman lies in the hospital in labor in January 2007. After more than twenty hours, the doctor and several nurses come in to speak to the woman’s family. Her blood pressure is very high, and she is at risk of having a dry birth. All of this is further complicated by the fact that the baby has a hole in his heart, and has lungs that have not developed properly. The doctor speaks to the woman’s grandmother. She wants to know, in the event of a C-section that could go awry, which patient should be saved – the twenty-four year old mother, or her still unseen baby boy. The grandmother speaks with no hesitation, stating that everything possible should be done to save her granddaughter, meaning that the child could die. Through her tears, the mother begs for just the opposite, pleading for her child’s life to be saved, even if it is at the expense of her own. From her hospital bed, she tries her best to change her grandmother’s mind. Her grandmother firmly maintains that the woman may have other children in the future, and that if she dies today, the grandmother would possibly be left to raise a young child in her old age, and that child may have a disability. Her blood pressure continues to rise as she is overcome with fear and hurt at the prospect of losing this child that she has...
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...the importance of consensual decisions A qualitative study Lorenz Imhofa, Romy Mahrer-Imhofa, Christine Janischb, Annemarie Kesselringc, Regula Zuercher Zenklusend a b c d Zurich University of Applied Sciences ZHAW, Institute of Nursing, Winterthur, Switzerland Department of Education, Training and Professional Development, Stadtspital Waid Zurich, Switzerland Institute of Nursing Science, University of Basel, Switzerland Department of Medicine, Pourtalès Hospital, Neuchâtel, Switzerland Correspondence: Lorenz Imhof PhD RN Zurich University of Applied Sciences Institute of Nursing School of Health Professions Technikumstr. 71 CH-8401 Winterthur Switzerland lorenz.imhof@zhaw.ch pivotal. Therefore, leadership by experienced senior physicians and nurses is needed and great efforts should be made with regard to multidisciplinary education. Key words: decision-making; multidisciplinary collaboration; end-of-life issue; resuscitation orders Introduction Since the 1980s, “do-not-attempt-resuscitation (DNAR)” orders have become common in medical practice. DNAR orders are given for 50–60% of patients who die a non-sudden death, with wide variations among countries. DNAR orders apply to only 19% of hospitalised patients in Italy, but to as many as 83% in Sweden and 86% in Switzerland [1, 2]. The frequency of DNAR decisions in which competent patients had been involved in the decision is as low as 10% in Italy and as high as 84% in the Netherlands. Several other authors reported...
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...Leo has recently applied for and been offered several other jobs, but at a lower salary and with no health insurance coverage. Recently, Leo’s diabetes has worsened. He has developed a serious infection that has led to lost wages and, far worse, the loss of his right leg below the knee. Leo is weighing his options. He has heard about a new clinical research trial open to insulin-dependent diabetics that pays $100 a week to research subjects. He has also been quite depressed and begun to wonder if his children might not be better off without him. He has several life insurance policies that would pay off generously if something were to happen to him, and he has broached the subject of assisted suicide with his long-time physician. Is there a way, he asks his physician, to have his death look like it was from natural causes so his children could collect on the policy? CHAPTER QUESTIONS 1. What ethical responsibilities do health care professionals have to their patients? 2. What ethical rights do patients have?...
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...Capitulo 3 del libro de Bowyer (bajado con permiso pues era el ofrecido por la editorial) Professional Codes of Ethics Commitment to ethical professional conduct is expected of every voting, ssociate, and student member of the ACM. — preamble to the ACM Code of Ethics. We, the members of the IEEE, in recognition of the importance of our technologies in affecting the quality of life throughout the world, and in ccepting a personal obligation to our profession, its members and the communities we serve, do hereby commit ourselves to conduct of the highest ethical and rofessional manner... — preamble to the IEEE Code of Ethics 3.1 Introduction Some students react with surprise when told that there is even one published code of ethics for the computing disciplines. In fact, almost every professional organization dealing with the field of computing has published its own code of ethics. For this text, I selected the codes published by the two most influential organizations for computer professionals: the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the Association for Computing Machinery. I also selected a third code, from the National Society of Professional Engineers. A variety of other professional organizations have published computing codes, such as the Data Processing Management Association and the Institute for Certification of Computer Professionals [6], but I selected the NSPE code because it is still relevant to computing and contains some useful...
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...opioids has gone out of control, making it a national issue that many people are attempting to attack. Prescription opioid use is increasing in public health, creating an epidemic that is growing rapidly. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse: opiates, depressants, and stimulants are the three drug classifications most commonly abused by Americans. A multitude of research on the subject has concluded that there is more than a single solution to the problem, such as taking immediate action as well as creating prevention strategies. I decided to do additional research on this topic since it plays a huge part in my career as well as personal life. Being a substance abuse counselor in the criminal justice field, I experience first-hand the effects of prescription opioid abuse. A large number of client’s participating in the TASC (Treatment Alternatives for Safer Communities) are dealing with prescription opioid abuse due to an injury or surgical procedure. On April 25, 2015, my first cousin died from a heroin overdose at the age of 23. After a football injury, he was prescribed Hydrocodone and became addicted. Since the pills are too expensive, he began using heroin and his battle ended 5 years later. In 2009, 16 million Americans age 12 and older reported taking a prescription pain reliever, tranquilizer, stimulant or sedative for nonmedical purpose according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration Web Site. In 2010, the NIDA-funded Monitoring the Future...
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...people that allows for a sacred encounter that changes lives forever (Chapman, 2011). The components needed for loving service are: skill, competency, stewardship of resources, and a servant’s heart (Chapman, 2011). This type of holistic care is based on trust and recognizes kindness, compassion, and respect are essential to clinical excellence (Chapman, 2011). The client is viewed as an integrated spiritual being that is treated as a whole person (Chapman, 2011, p. 34). This concept is foreign to the Western medical model, but no the nursing profession. The concept of caring has long been identified as the essence of nursing (Barker, 2009). In ancient times, nurses tended the sick and provided care for their needs between physician house calls (O’Brien, 2008). Florence Nightingale’s traditional model of the profession called nursing a “caring vocation” (Barker, 2009). Even the patients of today recognize it the nurse who provides for and tends to their needs. In the absence of therapeutic use of self during a hospital visit patient satisfaction scores decline. The Healing Hospital model is steeped in the Judea-Christian concept of unity between the body, mind, and spirit. The model uses technology and physical design combined with a strong loving culture to provide a holistic healing for partners. The traditional health care system today is in a period of...
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...Running Head: INTENT AND IMPACT OF PUBLICITY-ORIENTED LEGAL CHALLENGES TO PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED SUICIDE. Intent and Impact of Publicity-Oriented Legal Challenges to Physician-Assisted Suicide Elena Mikhaylov Student Keller Graduate School of Management – Online HS542 Keri Bahar February 2012 Introduction The word Euthanasia originated from the Greek language: eu means “good” and thanatos means “death”. In Ancient Greece it meant literally "the good death". The term euthanasia normally means that the person who wishes to commit suicide must initiate the act. The Oxford English Dictionary Online (2nd edition, 1989; online version Sep. 2011) provides the following definitions of euthanasia: "A gentle and easy death...[T]he means of bringing about a gentle and easy death... However, in today’s society term euthanasia includes both voluntary and involuntary termination of life. Euthanasia has many meanings. Except for involuntary euthanasia, all these terms are closely related because the victim requests the action. The only difference is who is actually committing the act, Voluntary euthanasia is a help to mentally competent person to die through the assistance of others and can be divided in two categories. Passive Euthanasia means causing the death of a person by withdrawing some form of support and letting nature take its course. For example: removing life support, stopping medical procedures, stopping food and water and allowing the...
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...Chapter 1: Ethical Theory Meta-ethical positions include: * Ethical non-cognitivism (concept that ethics is a matter of feelings) * Ethical relativism (concept that ethics is relative to a particular point of view) * Ethical objectivism (notion that ethics is objective in nature). Meta-Ethical Positions Ethical Non-cognitivism The basis of ethical non-cognitivism is that ethical disagreement can be a highly emotional affair where no amount of reasoning is likely to convince the other party. * Example: “Let’s just agree to disagree” Ethical Relativism * Ethical relativism says that while ethical statements are cognitively meaningful, they do not hold in any objective sense because they depend on our point of view. * If we accept ethical relativism, then ethical disagreement among people who do not share the same perspective becomes impossible. * It assumes that if people agree on something, then it must be true. * Ethical relativism is suspect for a pragmatic reason: it is fundamentally at variance with our social practice. * Example: “To each his own”, or the belief that what’s right for one group isn’t necessarily right for another Ethical Objectivism * Ethical objectivism holds that right and wrong are objective phenomena. * Example: “I’m right and you’re wrong” What is Ethics? * As a discipline, ethics is a branch of philosophy. * It deals with questions of right and wrong conduct, and with what we ought to do and what...
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...practices comply with appropriate ethical values. Key Words Bioethics, Biomedical research, clinical research, Tuskegee Study, paternalism, morality Introduction From time to time human beings experience health challenges, whether physical or mental. On its part, medical practice has made considerable progress towards combating or controlling many of these challenges. It is through research that the nature, symptoms and effects of ailments can be ascertained and remedies discovered. Medical researchers engage in both therapeutic and non-therapeutic research. Therapeutic research is that carried out with the purpose of treating disease. On the other hand, non-therapeutic research is aimed at 76 Adebayo A. Ogungbure furthering the frontiers of knowledge about human health. Furthermore, researchers and physicians often use human beings as objects of scientific investigation, raising certain ethical concerns, including the issue of informed consent and how consent is obtained, selection of participants in research, the welfare of human subjects involved in...
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...Ethics The field of ethics (or moral philosophy) involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior. Philosophers today usually divide ethical theories into three general subject areas: metaethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics. Metaethics investigates where our ethical principles come from, and what they mean. Are they merely social inventions? Do they involve more than expressions of our individual emotions? Metaethical answers to these questions focus on the issues of universal truths, the will of God, the role of reason in ethical judgments, and the meaning of ethical terms themselves. Normative ethics takes on a more practical task, which is to arrive at moral standards that regulate right and wrong conduct. This may involve articulating the good habits that we should acquire, the duties that we should follow, or the consequences of our behavior on others. Finally, applied ethics involves examining specific controversial issues, such as abortion, infanticide, animal rights, environmental concerns, homosexuality, capital punishment, or nuclear war. By using the conceptual tools of metaethics and normative ethics, discussions in applied ethics try to resolve these controversial issues. The lines of distinction between metaethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics are often blurry. For example, the issue of abortion is an applied ethical topic since it involves a specific type of controversial behavior. But it also depends...
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