...exploring this, we must understand utilitarianism. Utilitarianism leads us to question what happens when performing an action, and to envision the consequences of that action (Collier & Haliburton, 2015, p. 6). In Utilitarian theory the beneficence principle looks at the value of the good and utility, which means contributing the most amount of happiness (Collier & Haliburton, 2015, p. 9). This means, the act of doing good may benefit a particular individual through sufficient healthcare (Collier & Haliburton, 2015, p. 440). Act utilitarianism focuses on the special obligations we have in our relationships (Collier & Haliburton, 2015, p. 11)....
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...Nikki Jackson Colorado Technical University Online Dr. Pradeep Goel July 10th, 2014 One might ask what is utilitarianism? Utilitarianism is defined as “the belief that a morally good action is one that helps the greatest number of people” (Merriam-Webster, 2014). Ethics utilitarianism derives from consequentialism; therefore with that in mind simple utilitarianism “an action is right or wrong according to whether it maximizes the net balance of pleasure over pain in the universe” (Merriam-Webster, 2014). There are two forms of consequentialism. The first one is classical utilitarianism and it determines the benefits from a decision or action. The second is rule consequentialism which makes the rules or guidelines that would create happiness or pleasure that is derived from a decision or action (Morris, 2014, p. 29-32). In 2010, President Obama created the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) which was created to ensure that all Americans had healthcare insurance. Currently there are 44 million American’s without healthcare insurance. When creating the ACA President Obama had utilitarianism in mind because he put forth the “maximization of the net utility expected for all parties affected by a decision.” (Morrison, 2014, p. 29-32) The ACA is a good example of utilitarianism, and President Obama’s intentions are in helping the greatest number of people for the greater good; however, there are still drawbacks that need to be taken into account. A majority...
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...be the existing fear that the family members may interfere with resuscitation efforts or it will traumatize them psychologically. A moral conflict exists because of the existence of two opposing obligations. The obligation to the family members who wants to be present with their loved ones during medical emergencies and the obligation to healthcare providers who do not want the presence of family members to witness the resuscitation efforts. It is very important to examine the perceptions of patients, families, and health care providers when determining a solution for the family stay during medical emergencies. Often health care providers assume that the family members may interfere with the resuscitation efforts (Thomas, 2008). Another fear is that the family member may not be able to control their emotions, there by hindering the resuscitation efforts. Many organizations such as Emergency nurses Association and Associations of Critical Care nurses support the presence of family members during resuscitation. Findings from one study suggest that the family members who were not present during resuscitation had more psychological issues throughout the bereavement than those who witnessed an unsuccessful resuscitation. Experts claim that family involvement during resuscitation can help patients and families to control the fear and anguish experienced in the crisis (Thomas, 2008). Related ethical theories and principles Family...
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...Corporate Governance and Ethical Responsibility Research Paper Essie Sullivan Dr. Cantrell Legal 500 Law, Ethics & Corporate Governance February 11, 2013 1. Determine at least three (3) different internal and external stakeholders that Dr. DoRight might have to deal with on a daily basis at the hospital. Hospital facilities are definitely significant in the well-being of patients and expertise of its medical staff personnel. However, Dr. DoRight has been hired as the President of the “Universal Human Care Hospital”, where he oversees all departments with over 5000 employees and over 20,000 patients at the medical facility. He has been given an enormous responsibility to ensure to its internal and external stakeholders that all departments function efficiently and patients’ care and health are essentials. Therefore, three internal stakeholders that Dr. DoRight might have to deal with on a daily basis are Board of Trustees (shareholders), Employees, and his Regional Director of Compliance Manager and Executive Committee. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from http://www.allfreepapers.com/Business/Corporate-Governance-Ethical-Responsibility/22558.html. Additionally, three external stakeholders that Dr. DoRight might have to deal with on a daily basis consist of Patients, Numerous Community Organizations--Corporations, Government, and Local Community/Society. Retrieved February 10, 2013 from http://www.chegg.com/homework-help/questions-and-answers/2-compare-cont...
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...summarize what you perceive to be the top five ethical issues challenging health care delivery today? What I perceive to be the top five ethical issues challenging health care delivery today are the following: * Avoiding conflicts of interest * Balancing profits with quality of care * Equal treatment of all patients * Managing decision making capacity of the elderly and very young patients * Addressing nurses moral distress when providing care with minimal benefits The ethical philosophies and principles that would summarize these issues for me would be a combination of the Natural Law ethical theory, and the Utilitarianism ethical theory. These theories would summarize the top five ethical issues I perceive to be a challenge in health care today. Describe at least two ethical principles discussed in this week's reading material. Apply those principles to two examples of ethical challenges that exist in the delivery of health care today. Do these principles assist in overcoming the challenge or do they create more of an ethical dilemma? Why? Natural Law Ethical Theory- This principle of ethics is defined as the position that rational reflection on nature, will yield principles of good and bad that can guide human action toward fulfillment or flourishing. Utilitarianism- This principle of ethics is defined as acting so as to do the greatest good for the greatest number. Today's health care field faces many ethical challenges. One ethical challenge that healthcare...
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...and their surrounding communities, over the past few decades there have been some major changes in the way that hospitals have been expected to respond to the health status of their surrounding communities. The idea of utilitarianism within the system of public health is something that many believe is dire to the success of the health profession. Since at least the mid-1990s, hospitals are and have been advised to make sure they control and polish the status of their communities health wise. Bloomquist & Yeager (2008) suggested that hospitals should shift to provide both public/community health care and institutional/traditional health care, and doing so would mean hospitals must evaluate community health status to make improvements and provide services meeting community needs. However, in order for public health institutions to accomplish this and acquire the knowledge necessary to get accurate information about what actually is the greatest good for the greatest amount of people. The initiation of the balanced scorecard allows for an effective review of the functioning of healthcare facilities. This opened up a more sound discussion of facility review in education forums. In the following the effectiveness and benefits of balance scorecards and the education forums communication modality will be discussed. The health industry has a grave responsibility in caring for the medical needs of the people of this country. In order for patients and providers to communicate effectively...
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...Key Features of utilitarianism and its weaknesses. The Theory of Utilitarianism comes from its name from the Latin word ‘Utilis’, meaning ‘useful’. It was first developed by Jeremy Bentham, Philosopher and legal theorist of the 18th century. Bentham produced a modern approach of morality which would suit the changing world of the industrial age. This was also the era of enlightenment. Utilitarianism can be regarded as a consequentialist and teleological system of ethics, providing no strict moral rules but judging an action by its consequence or end result. Bentham believed in Francis Hutcheson’s belief which is known as the utility principle (the greatest good for the greatest number)and argued that one should maximise happiness for the majority and that happiness is equated with moral goodness. This identified Bentham as a ‘Hedonist’, sing he look ed at humans as being primarily motivated by pleasure and avoidance of pain. Bentham put forward what he regarded as a scientific and empical process for making moral decisions, known as the ‘hedonic calculus’ which he brought reason and evidence to the field of ethics. This consisted of sever key ccriteria which a person must consider when making a moral choice: - intensity - duration - certainty - propquity - fecundity - purity - extent ( on how people feel) Later in the 19th century, John Stuart mill modified his theory. Mill was a leading politician and philosopher of his day. He advocated radical causes such...
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...dilemmas in providing care for their patients. Some of the challenging dilemmas include providing care that will prolong life but decrease quality of life, euthanasia, whether to break confidentiality to provide care for a patient, stem cell research, etc. Currently, ethical decisions in the nursing profession and health care are becoming more complex. Due to this change nurses today require advanced problem solving ability and critical thinking skills to deal with ethical issues. Patient’s lives can be greatly affected by the decisions healthcare members make pertaining to their care. Decisions involving ethics can create situations in which parties disagree with one another on the plan of care. Emotions and interpersonal relationships are factors that interfere with a nurses’ ability to make clear decision related to their patients during these difficult situations. Developing an advanced nursing problem solving skills and critical thinking skills will allow nurses to be the best patient advocate. (Hodgson, Mendenhall, & Lamson, 2013) In this paper I will discuss a situation that reveals how the different types of healthcare ethics could change the overall outcome of the situation. Importance of Ethical Theory to Nursing Utilitarianism/Consequentialism: In ethics utilitarianism is a theory that states the rightness or wrongness of a decision or action is decided by its effectiveness in producing the greatest happiness of all those involved. Utilitarianism is a type of consequentialism...
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...Health care for all is a major topic that affects the nonworking and working groups in this country. As I was doing my research on the topic I came across many interesting arguments and counterarguments that has a lot of relevance. One of the topic talks about is that nobody should get free health care benefits and it should only be provided to people who can afford it. And the counter argument states that health care should be considered as a basic need like food and water. Everybody should have equal opportunity to have access to health care it doesn’t matter the rich or the poor. “The principle or value of utilitarianism and its rule is: “Act in such a way that you maximize the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people.” (Parks & Wike, 2010, p. 7) So bringing health care to all concept is revolved around the theory of utilitarianism because it brings greater good to a lot of people. There is also arguments that people can abuse the free health care system. And I found that the counter argument is stronger because they lists ways in which that can be avoided. For instance to prevent the over abuse there can be a small deductable or copay that people have to pay to receive treatment. There is also the fear of being not being able to use the same provider but the counter argument says that under the health care for all there won’t be any provider restrictions because it is equal care. Reference: Parks, J. A. & Wike, V. S. (2010). Bioethics in...
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...November 1st , 2010 TRM 409.01 BUSINESS ETHICS Case Study: “Slavery in the Chocolate Industry” Instructor: Perran Akan Student: Neşe Roman Student ID: 2006104603 From the perspective of Utilitarianism, child slavery contributes the economics position of the country. As I know, the economic situation of the country is bad, they are one of the third world countries. What is more, cocoa beans prices decreased in the year 1996 - 2000. So, farmers want to reduce the cost of production with cutting the wages and using slavery. According to Utilitarianism, the “right” action or policy is the one that will produce the greatest net benefits or the lowest net costs. From that point, they reduce costs, and maximize their net benefits from child slavery. The major difficulty with Utilitarianism is that it is unable to deal with rights and justice. For instance, from the point of social justice, it is clear that child slavery is the result of unequal distribution of burdens. Utilitarianism only looks at the utility, not the distribution of it among the members of society. The important ignorance on ethics in Utilitarianism, bring the consideration of justice and rights. Justice looks at how the benefits and burdens distributed among the society. On the other hand, rights look at the individual entitlements to freedom of choice and well being. From the rights point of view, there are no clues about the legal rights of the children. I do not think that government has labor or child...
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...moral norms (from different moral authorities like societal, familial, cultural, religious, etc.) that we have so many different ethical theories1. Having varied ethics for us to follow allows us to exercise our rationality and put ethics into practice by questioning what we see around us1. This case exemplifies the moral dilemma of how democratic government corruption and monopoly is capable of endangering the public food supply. The ethical dilemma here is whether or not Dr. Chopra did the right thing by violating superior norms and coming out with the ugly truth – more colloquially known as whistle blowing. My convictions are that Dr. Chopra and his team acted ethically in coming out with the truth to help safeguard and protect the health of fellow Canadians. This will be demonstrated through the lens of four moral theories namely, Aristotle’s virtue ethics, deontology and Kantian ethics, utilitarian ethics. The advantages and disadvantages of each school of thought will be presented, followed by a discussion of Dr. Chopra’s whistle blowing according to each philosophy. Aristotle’s virtue ethics stems from the work that Socrates and Plato did; however, it differs in that it focuses on the moral character of each individual as opposed to the rules and principles around human behavior1,2. He emphasized mankind’s ability to think and reason logically and therefore created a way of thinking that allows us to gauge the middle path between two extremes; it is for this reason...
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...How fair is the judgment that Bentham’s Utilitarianism is a ‘pig philosophy’ or ‘swine ethic.’ (10 marks) Thomas Carlyle was a critic of Bentham’s approach of Utilitarianism. He reflects on Bentham’s approach as a ‘pig philosophy’. This is because he saw it more as a morality based on the ‘swinish pleasure of the masses.’ Bentham’s philosophy was referred as a swinish or the pig’s philosophy as it endorsed on the greatest amount of pleasure for the greatest number of people. This is degrading humans viewing them as animals that focus mainly on the needs of the majority whether even if the minority is morally approved. An example of this will be abortion. Bentham’s theory will support the act of abortion. According to his theory the majority will receive pleasure through the abortion of an unborn. The pregnant women might have conceived the unborn by an accident. If the woman and her family are financially broken she will choose not to keep the child. This will lead them to take a decision to abort the unborn. This will not make the financial system better for the family however it will decrease the amount of materials they would need to spend for another person, allowing them to save some money. This will lead them to take a decision to abort the unborn child. Even though it is not acceptable to abort a child Bentham’s theory can be used to support this act. Majority will benefit from this abortion. However, utilitarianism advocates injustice as the innocent is unjustly...
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...Ethics in Medicine: The Moral Compass Introduction to Health Care 02/16/15 Morals are the compass each of us have inside of us that help us to make decisions. They guide towards good and evil, or right and wrong. The thing that makes morals so unique and interesting is that no two compasses are exactly the same just as no two people are the same. The health care industry is probably one of the most praised and criticized industries for its moral compass. If we look solely at the topic of abortion from a moral standpoint the spectrum of beliefs is very wide. This paper will discuss four different moral principles and compare them. The first moral principle is beneficence. Beneficence is defined as “acts of mercy, kindness, and charity.”(1) It can also mean to, “Refer to an action done to benefit others”(1). In terms of medicine this means to do all that you can do to your patients. This principle is unique because how do you define what a benefit to another is. For example physician assisted suicide for example is a benefit to the person who is ill. But what is the benefit to the child or parent whom is left behind. Let’s say someone has ALS, the prognosis is terminal. They are going to die from this disease because the fluid will continue to build in their lungs and eventually they will stop breathing. Now if that person who is suffering tremendously with their illness can benefit and not suffer anymore isn’t the physician helping them? Or is the physician...
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... Ethics & Corp. Governance Francis Hatstat Strayer University September 9, 2012 Premises Brazilian Blowout Professional Treatments are use of innovative and breakthrough bonding technologies, these treatments actually improve the health and condition of the hair by creating a protective protein layer around the hair shaft to eliminate frizz and smooth the cuticle. These treatments aim to smooth out unruly curls and waves and to reduce frizz. However, the treatments do not guarantee completely straight hair. If the Brazilian Blowout is performed correctly, about 50 to 80 percent of the curl can be reduced depending on the original hair texture. Treatments last around 10–12 weeks and repeating the treatment every few months will allow for treatment of new growth. Depending on the treatment used downtime, after it is performed ranges from no-wait to a 72 hour period in which the recipient cannot wash or wet the hair, exercise, tuck the hair behind the ears, or pin it up with any hair clip, pony tail holder or headband, as doing so may compromise the result of the treatment. The treatment on average cost about $150–$600 depending on the hair length. FDA states that Brazilian Blowouts are hazardous to the health of the women who use them and hairdressers who apply them. The concern is over the “alleged” presence of formaldehyde in the hair smoothing products which centers around three issues: nomenclature; method by which formaldehyde concentration is measured;...
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...UTILITARIANISM Ethics is a branch of philosophy that is concerned with what is morally good and bad or right and wrong. It is the core value system we use in life when solving our daily problems. Ethics was developed on a wide variety of factors and are not the absolute rules. People build their lives from personal ethics; however many people find it difficult to define ethics. Some people believe that ethics is derived from the inner voice, which guides us through our daily lives. While others consider ethics to be innate; many feel it is developed as a result of our environment. Ethics involves how we treat people in terms of respect and the concern we have for their well being. Many businesses and organizations operate under a code of ethics, which was established to govern the behavior within that environment. A code of ethics is necessary to accomplish success or overcome adversity. If there were no rules or guidelines it would be difficult to hold one accountable for poor decision-making or bad behavior. Violation of the code of ethics in a business or organization may result in sanctions or legal penalties. Among the major fields of applied ethics are bioethics, business ethics, legal ethics and medical ethics. Nurses are licensed by each state and they are part of a self-regulating profession. They are responsible for their own work and have their own code of ethics. Nurses are governed by a set of rules and regulation, which...
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