Healthcare Ethics: Analyzing a Case of Ethical Decision-Making

This report presents a case study on healthcare ethics, focusing on a 32-year-old woman, M, involved in a motor vehicle accident where she lost her two children and is in critical condition requiring surgery. The report identifies ethical issues, including the conflict between veracity (truthfulness) and nonmaleficence (minimizing harm), as the patient is in a hysterical state and continuously asking about her children. The analysis involves stakeholders such as the patient and the medical team, exploring their perspectives on ethical decision-making. The report outlines possible outcomes, considering whether the medical team should tell the patient the truth about her children's death before surgery, potentially causing further harm, or conceal the truth to ensure her survival. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of ethical judgment in professional practice, highlighting the complexity of making moral decisions in healthcare settings. The case study utilizes ethical principles of veracity, autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice.

Running Head: ETHICS AND PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES 1
Ethics and Professional Practices
Author-
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Table of Contents
Introduction...............................................................................................................3
Facts of the case........................................................................................................3
Ethical issues relevant to the case.............................................................................3
Ethical decision making raised by the stakeholders in the case................................5
Possible outcomes of the case...................................................................................6
Conclusion.................................................................................................................7
References.................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
Ethics is a process of making a moral judgement in a situation based on critical and
consistent analysis of the situation (Ferell, Fraedrich, & Ferell, 2012). Ethical practices are
important in all professions. It becomes even more important for healthcare professionals
because they are responsible for life of the patients (Brooks, 2014). Following is an
assessment of a case dealing with a healthcare ethics issue.
Facts of the case
The case outlines the situation of a 32-year-old woman named M, who has been
involved in a motor vehicles accident. She is in a critical condition and in in need for
emergency surgery. Her two children have been killed in the accident. In a hysterical state
she is continuously asking for their condition.
Ethical issues relevant to the case
Ethics is a concept which concerns itself with what is good and bad and what is
right and wrong (Martin, Wayne, & Solomon, 2017). Professional ethics underline the
behaviour of a person or a group with in an organisational environment (Popovski, 2014).
An ethical issue is a situation which endangers or puts in question one or more of the basic
values or principles of business ethics. A person, an organisation or a professional can
face am ethical issue due to a situation of dilemma caused by cross purpose between
ethical principle.
Experts in the philosophy of ethics attribute five principles or core values to good
ethical conduct (Driesch, 2018). These principles have been discussed as follows

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Veracity- Veracity means truthfulness and honesty (Jacob, 2016). According to
this principle the professional must tell the truth to his clients and be honest with them
Autonomy- this principle states that we must respect the decision making of others
concerning their own life (Marco, Moskop, & Schears,, 2012). Professionals must not
interfere with the right to decide of their clients.
Beneficence – This principle states that professionals must always strive towards
the benefit of their clients (Ashcroft, 2012). This principle makes sure that the professional
always keeps welfare of the client first.
Nonmaleficence- As per this principle the professional must minimise the harm to
the client (Newton, 2014)
Justice- this principle attributes to fair treatment of clients/ patients and equitable
distribution of resources
In the current case the situation consists of a patient in a critical situation in need
for surgery. The patient has lost her two children in the same car crash which has brought
her to the hospital. The patient is continuously asking for her kids and is in a hysterical
state. Therefore, the dilemma and the issue facing the medical team is a choice between
the principle of veracity and principles of nonmaleficence.
Veracity states that truth should be told to the client (Ferell, Fraedrich, & Ferell,
2012). This implies that the patient should be told about the death of her children.
However, telling the truth to a hysterical patient due for a critical surgery may do terminal
harm to her health. This means that there would be a breach of principles of

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nonmaleficence. Therefore, the medical team must find a solution which brings the
dilemma to an end
Ethical decision making raised by the stakeholders in the case
A stakeholder is a person or persons who get affected by the decision to be made
(Ashcroft, 2012). Following stakeholders are relevant to the case
The patient- The patient is patient M. She is 34 years old; she has been through a
bad car accident which killed her two children and put her in need for emergency surgery.
She is critical and hysterical and want to know about her children who were in the car with
her. A key value in this case is respect for her autonomy. That is the right to decide for
herself what is good for her and what is not (Brooks, 2014). The patient values being told
the truth and might know what is beneficial to her. Hence decision made by the patient is
to know the truth
The medical team (The emergency nurses and doctors)- the medical team wants a
relationship of trust with the patient. They believe in telling the truth and also respect the
patient’s autonomy. However, as the patient is in a hysterical and critical state, they feel
telling the truth might jeopardise her chances of surviving the surgery and living a healthy
life. The values at stake are veracity and nonmaleficence. That is the medical team might
feel that telling the truth might harm her wellbeing. Therefore, decision taken by the
medical team might be to conceal the truth until after the surgery. This gives rise to an
ethical dilemma.

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Possible outcomes of the case
The case consists of an ethical dilemma between the ethical principles or values of
truthfulness and nonmaleficence. Following can be the possible outcomes of the case.
1. The medical team chooses the value of veracity and tells the truth about her
children’s death to the patient. She might not take the news well and may go into shock
causing a severe damage to her system. This could also be seen as pushing a critical
patient to her death. Therefore, in this case the medical team could be accused of wrong
decision making.
2. The medical team may decide to tell the patient about her children. She might
take the news well after some initial crying. It might not have an adverse effect on her
system and surgery goes well. The medical team might feel that they have made an
ethically correct decision which has not put the value of truthfulness at stake and has not
caused any harm to the patient either.
3. The medical team might give more importance to value of nonmaleficence and
decide that the truth will endanger the life of the patient. Hence, they may hide the truth
from her until after the surgery. The patient survives the surgery. The medical team might
feel that they have made the right decision and saved the patient’s life. However, the
patient may feel that the team should have told them the truth earlier and that the team has
breached the value of truthfulness.
4. The team may decide to hide the truth till after the surgery because of the value
of nonmaleficence as they feel that the patient might go into shock on hearing it and that
may affect her chances of surviving the surgery. The patient does not survive nevertheless.

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In this case It would always be on the medical team’s mind that they should have told the
truth.
5. The team thinks that the truth will harm the patients hence they conceal it until
after the surgery. The patient survives and feels that the truth would have indeed harmed
her at that time. She thinks the decision was right and in her best interest. The medical
team would feel they have made the right moral judgement.
Therefore, there cannot be a single solution to the problem and the solution
depends on the ethical judgement of the professional team.
Conclusion
Ethics concern with moral judgement of right and wrong. Making right and correct
decisions based on morals is very important to smooth conduct of life for present as well
future. Hence it is important to understand and make the right ethical decision in the
professional field.

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References
Ashcroft, R. E. (2012). Principles of Health Care Ethics. New Jersey: John Wiley
& Sons.
Brooks, L. J. (2014). Business & Professional Ethics. London: Cengage Learning,.
Driesch, H. (2018). Revival: Ethical Principles in Theory and Practice (1930): An
Essay in Moral Philosophy. NewYork: Routledge.
Ferell, O., Fraedrich, J., & Ferell. (2012). Business Ethics: Ethical Decision
Making & Cases. New York: Cengage Learning.
Jacob, M. (2016). "The Spirit of the Convention–Interlocking Principles and Ethics
for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage. International Journal of Intangible
Heritage, 11, 72-87.
Marco, C., Moskop, J., & S. R. (2012). The ethics of health care reform: impact on
emergency medicine. Academic Emergency Medicine,, 19(4), 4+1-468.
Martin, C. W., Wayne, V., & Solomon, R. (2017). Ethics Across the Professions:
A Reader for Professional Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Newton, L. (2014). Ethical Decision Making: Introduction to Cases and Concepts
in Ethic. New York: Springer Science & Business Media.
Popovski, D. V. (2014). International Rule of Law and Professional Ethics.
Farnham , UK: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

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