High Moral Benchmarks in Human Services

High moral benchmarks are fundamental in human services. Four essential principles establish the foundation for healthcare ethics.

Key Ethical Principles

• Autonomy: This principle respects patients' rights to make their own decisions regarding their healthcare.
• Beneficence: This principle emphasizes the responsibility to contribute to the patient's welfare and good.
• Nonmaleficence: This principle commits to doing no harm to patients.
• Justice: This principle ensures that patients are treated equally, fairly, and impartially.

Ethical Issues in Healthcare

Two significant ethical issues in healthcare have emerged locally. These are advertising practices and medical errors.

Advertising Practices

According to Hospitals and Health Networks magazine, U.S. hospitals spend over $1.5 billion annually on advertising. The average 400-bed facility allocates more than $2 million to its marketing budget. This raises ethical questions about the propriety of hospitals spending extensively to promote their brand or specific technology, especially when commercial endorsements are involved. Ethical committees within healthcare institutions can review marketing practices to prevent ethical lapses. Healthcare professionals should consult their employers before endorsing products or services (Johnson, 2020).

Medical Errors

Even the smallest medical errors can significantly alter a patient's life. Administrators, responsible for the daily operations of healthcare facilities, must ensure that doctors receive all necessary documentation, including patient allergies, medical history, and required treatments. This poses an ethical challenge for healthcare managers, who may become overwhelmed with work and personal responsibilities, leading to errors such as misfiling paperwork. For example, a medical secretary might mistakenly mail one patient's medical records to another, violating privacy and trust (Smith & Thompson, 2021).

Issues Related to Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAD)

Many healthcare professionals recognize that physician-assisted dying is currently legal in states like California and Oregon. Support for PAD is growing as the baby boomer generation ages. Studies indicate that nearly 50 percent of doctors now support some form of physician-assisted dying. The traditional concept of "Do no harm" is evolving to include providing relief to those suffering from terminal illnesses. As we move forward, innovative advancements, cutting-edge medical techniques, and state-of-the-art treatments are designed to offer longer and more productive lives. However, as we advance, concerns about the future of medical care and its impact on patients become increasingly significant (Williams, 2022).

References

• Johnson, M. (2020). Advertising in Healthcare: Ethical Considerations. Hospitals and Health Networks.
• Smith, J., & Thompson, L. (2021). Medical Errors and Their Ethical Implications. Journal of Healthcare Management.
• Williams, R. (2022). The Evolution of Physician-Assisted Dying. Ethics in Medicine.