Ethical Issues in Modern Medicine

In todays society, the common consensus about human experimentation is that it is unethical, however, people in the past believed it was necessary to advance scientific discoveries. The Tuskegee syphilis study is a prime example of how scientists in the past disregarded the ethics of human experimentation to enhance scientific research. The study was an experiment where four- hundred to six-hundred uneducated African American men were tricked into being tested. Most of the patients were injected with the disease and left without treatment to discover its effects, while the others were safe being used as controls. This experiment lasted for Forty years and was probably the biggest example of unethical human experimentation in America. Fortunatley, the contrivertial actions taken in the experiment lead future generations to create the law of informed consent where the patient understands what will happen during their treatment. The inspiration for researching this topic was how in “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”, by Rebecca Skloot, Henrietta was used for a scientific study without her consent. In relation to Henrietta, the men in the syphilis study were not aware of what was happening to them and were experimented on without their consent. Overall, the human experimentation in the Tuskegee syphilis study was unethical in many ways.

According to the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, the Affordable care Act from President Obama gives consumers more options and benefits when seeking coverage from insurance company. It offers lowering cost as well as gets more access to high quality of care. This law creates Patient’s Bill of Rights that is very effective to protect consumers from any abuses or fraud from insurance company. Some preventive services are available to many Americans especially Medicare recipients at no cost. Not just that, they also receive a special offer of 50 percent discount for any well-known drugs in the market place under Medicare named “donut hole.” The Affordable Care Act helps other organizations and programs to convince healthcare providers

The Tuskegee study is one of the most useful situations when examining ethical decisions in science. Most useful because of the unethical decisions made and the justifications for them. The study spanned several decades and many decisions throughout can be examined with an ethical approach. The Tuskegee study was focused on patients who had contracted the disease syphilis. Syphilis at the time may have been the perfect enabler of this ethical case. Syphilis has been called “the great imitator” because it can be misdiagnosed as a multitude of other diseases. Coupled with racial targeting of the trial and other factors of the

The Tuskegee Syphilis Study crossed many ethical guidelines that inflected harm and injustice to the human subjects involved in the study. The twentieth century mindset and racism is what allowed this research to be even considered, because from anyone’s point of view now (scientist, doctors, etc.), no one in their right mind would just observe a disease for all these years and not try to stop it or allow for different treatments. The progression of such disease is not going to provide any new medical observations except what was “already known” in other cases; cardiovascular lesions, and other adverse effects that will eventually lead to death. To begin with, the purpose of the experiment was to determine the natural effects of “untreated

Healthcare management usually involves a wide range of activities. It in loves planning, administration, regulations and legislation all aimed at enhancing the quality of the system for the benefit of the patient and the medics. Planning is important as it provides efficient health care to all who are seeking medical intervention. However, planning should not be used as an intimidating tool denying the individual his or healthcare unless such intervention is necessary to the public health interest (Brody 2010). This has been none of the ethical issues surrounding the healthcare system. There has been a debate on what entails patient autonomy and the extent to which the healthcare team should participate in decision

The Tuskegee Syphilis Study caused a tragedy for many people. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study has proven to go against ethical standards of clinical research and has led to a greater understanding of ethical standards and informed consent. Anyone involved in a research study should have knowledge of the research they’re participating in, reasons why they’re participating in it, detailed procedures, and the possible risks from the experiment. The subjects were not informed about the whole purpose of the research. They also weren’t informed of all the known dangers, and that they would be denied treatment. Information about the participants having syphilis was never disclosed. The participants believed they were receiving treatment for “bad

There is three possible solutions for this dilemma that are all viable. All are ethical and are ways to solve the dilemma, but they all result in different outcomes that would completely change the case. This creates a dilemma for the doctor "When a patient, or surrogate(s) acting on behalf of a patient, refuses recommended treatment, a dilemma can be created for health care professionals" (Policy, n.d.). Each case regarding patient refusal should be treated according to the case "Each instance of treatment refusal should be considered individually to determine the response of health care professionals" (Policy, n.d.) The first solution would go against the patients wishes to inject him with the serum but would agree with the principles of

Growing old and losing the ability to function independently is inevitable.  Aging is a part of life.  As adults grow old, they need increased assistance with daily living skills.  The elderly may need assistance with finances, cooking, washing clothes, and cleaning.  However, many Americans are not only aging but also acquiring dementia.  In a recent study from the funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH), revealed that approximately 3.8 million people in the United States have some type of dementia National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. (2001). Dementia affects the ability to cognitively function

Ethical issues are “moral challenges” facing the health care profession (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2012, p. 127). Ethical issues are major concern in the healthcare field because healthcare providers observe ethical issues every day and have to make ethical decisions. A great example in the medical field is advance directives these documents are written to address individual’s medical preferences. These documents usually take effect when patients are no longer able to make informed health care decisions for them. These documents are helpful to everyone and health care providers, there are ethical considerations that can make the use of advance directives difficult (Llama, 2014). This author is a geriatric nurse that recently observed an advance directive ethical issue in the clinical setting. The purpose of this paper is to outline the steps of ethical decision-making within the seven steps for the framework. This paper will also identify the facts of the case from the perspective of each person impacted by the situation and identify which ethical principles were involved in the situation.

There are more ethical issues in health care then you could imagine, I will introduce three of such issues here in this paper. For starters “Making Basic Health Care Accessible,” today in our society there are many Americans that still lack basic health care. Most travel miles to get proper care, and pay extra out-of-pocket to receive this care. Not only basic health care but durable medical equipment (DME) and radiologic testing.

Ethical issues in the healthcare field ARISE from different perspectives of individuals rights and clinical research. There have been many advances in technology for the treatment of cancer that come from clinical research have CREATED many new ethical problems. Bone marrow transplantation is a major case where research has the potential benefit, but RESOURCES provide this life-saving option are scarce. Bone marrow is a spongy type tissue inside some of the bones in the body, which includes the thigh and hip bones. A bone marrow contains immature cells, called stem cells. There are two types of bone marrow there is yellow bone marrow which is a fatty tissue and red bone marrow, known as myeloid tissue. Yellow bone marrow CONTAINS mesenchymal stem cells

The final ethical issue that may be faced is clinical issues. Clinical issues happen as a result of the caregiving relationship that forms between practitioners and clients (Kunstler, 2010). Clinical issues form from outgrowths of foundational and systemic issues. Kunstler (2010) says that “clinical ethical issues include the rights of clients, decision making for those who are incapacitated, privacy and confidentiality, and boundary issues” (p.15). An example of this issue is when a client with a chronic illness is no longer able to make conscientious decisions. It is the practitioners job to follow the patients caregivers wishes, even if your opinion differs. As a professional in healthcare the ‘‘person before label concept” is important

Perhaps the toughest feedback I have ever received came from a well-respected physician who was unsatisfied with his electronic medical records that I prepared for him as a medical scribe. In the middle of a demanding shift, I was confronted about my documentation in which I did not document in a way that was focused on ensuring ‘Level 5’ charting. In other words, the physician gave me feedback on my charting methods and asked me to change the way in which I documented his interactions so that the hospital would receive the most compensation. This request proposed an ethical dilemma for myself as I had observed every interaction between the physician and his patients and knew that my documentation was a genuine attempt to accurately record

The Utilitarian view is that we should act to promote the greatest amount of happiness and the least amount of suffering. According to this philosophy, an action is morally right if its consequences lead to happiness and wrong if it leads to pain. An example would be a city’s enforcement of speed limits. Overall safety of all the drivers on the road is more important than one person’s need for speed. In utilitarianism everything useful to happiness is good and everything that is not useful is bad. According to utilitarianism, one should consider the possible consequences of an act, but the difficulty in putting utilitarianism into action is deciding how much personal right one should sacrifice in order to further the good of the people.

There are many different ethical issues in the medical field. One is being patient confidentiality. A patient’s medical issues or records are considered private. Speaking of these in public is a violation. Another is patient relationship.