Health Ethic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Health Ethic - Essay Example 1). In this principle, it takes into account the standardized benchmarks that must be maintained in order to secure the health welfare of patients seeking medical attention. The code basically establishes the kind of relationship shared by patients and their health providers, where the former group is considered inferior compared to superiority exhibited by medically-educated practitioners. Hence, there is a one-sided dependence in such type of association. In current times, there is a shift in the focus of health care from solely treatment provisions to health care promotion and education--there is an integrated transfer of power from health providers to consumers. Where once the medical practitioners hold the sole control on the direction of their clients’ overall care, recent developments account for a more shared responsibility between the two parties involved in health care. Bearing the illustrated changes in mind, there is a general assumption that concepts in medical et hical conduct is not absolute in every situation, including the core ethical principles that govern the medical practice. The paper conducts a case evaluation related to the requested act of withholding the full disclosure medical information by a patient towards biologic relatives, and ethical principles regulating the practitioners’ actions in the performance of such duty. Specifically, this seeks to clarify contradictions in professional limitations of practitioners and extent to which patients can exercise their ethical rights against the moral code of conduct maintained by health providers. Ethical Dilemma: A Case Point Case 1 Mrs M has been having some strange symptoms which have been diagnosed as early symptoms of multiple sclerosis. She realizes she could be unaffected by the disease for some time and so has asked her GP not to tell anyone, even her family. Mr M and their three children are also the GP's patients. The GP is torn by Mrs M's decision because she feels i t would be better if the family knew now rather than finding out later. Mrs M wants to keep this secret because "I don't want them to start treating me differently. I want to look after my family for as long as I can before they start looking after me." Ethics is a complex concept that encompasses more than the networking tenets of what is morally right and wrong. Medical ethics, as identified by Flight (2004), is a definitive set of values that guide the practice of medical practitioners, incorporating a variety of ethical theories to provide basis for conflict resolutions and updates on practical health issues in clinical and community health settings. Basic in almost all types of professional ethics is the presentation of the four core approaches in ethical performance: â€Å"autonomy (freedom to choose), nonmaleficence (do no harm), beneficence (do what is good), justice† (Ashcroft, et al., 2007, p. 4). In one way or another, these principles interact with one another to influence the procedures by which the medical practitioners perform their duties in work environment. In account with the case presented above, a couple of values seemed to be in conflict during the adherence of professional code in ethics. As listed above, autonomy is the exercise of the liberty to choose. In clinical settings, patients are given options to choose among the treatment alternatives available to them. In application, Mrs. M had reserved her right to