Ethics and Morals in the Healthcare Field

There are several terms that are often used to define certain behaviors of human beings. An unethical person, for instance, knows right from wrong but choose to alter rules or guidelines for their benefit regardless of whom it may interfere with. Ethics is having morals and having full knowledge of the rules and abiding by them even if left with the option to bend or alter the rules or guidelines. Having a sense of right and wrong doesn’t mean anything if a person does not follow what is right and wrong; or ethics. An amoral person is somebody who is the opposite of a moral person; sort of the same concept as an unethical person but they don’t carry morals around with them in their daily lives, and probably don’t think twice before behaving in an immoral fashion (Pantilat, Steven 2008).

The law is a rule with absolutely zero wiggle room; it cannot be bent or altered and has to be followed to the fullest extent. Different situations may play out differently in the event that a law has been broken but the same consequence goes for all those that break the law. Beneficence is an act of kindness done without expecting anything in return; or a gift that is given to a friend or a charity (Pantilat, Steven 2008). Instead of benefiting an individual would be giving somebody else a benefit or a donation which is beneficence. Justice is when a criminal is brought to the punishment that is deserved based on the law (Pantilat, Steven 2008). A criminal trial can be seen as unjust if a person who has broken the law isn’t held to the degree of punishment that is deserved. Autonomy is the independence of somebody who is his own person and is not under the government; or is free to become a government all in themselves (Pantilat, Steven 2008).

There are plenty of scenarios in the healthcare field where one is faced with a moral or ethical dilemma. For doctors they are taught to uphold their promise to their patients where what is discussed is between the two parties stays between the two parties. There are exceptions to that rule in some situations; for instance, if one the patient is actually a doctor themselves. An anesthesiologist was practicing at a hospital for several years and throughout the term of his residency had a condition that had gone unrecognized throughout his entire residency. Although a minor infarction, it still could have been a lot worse than it ended up being. He admitted to the physician that he had a small lapse of unconsciousness during a surgery; his condition ended up being a form of epilepsy, but the lapse was so brief that nobody around him noticed it (Nanos, Janelle 2008). How bad could it really be if nobody even noticed the brief seizure? One may ask, but it is problematic for future surgeries. What if next time his seizure isn’t so brief and actually interferes with the procedure.

The physician thought about what to do in this situation over and over in his head. Does he let somebody know about his condition even though he is supposed to uphold confidentiality? The answer is yes, the patient protection in the OR far surpasses that of patient doctor confidentiality (Nanos, Janelle 2008). His condition is treatable but the physician ended up giving him the option to report himself before he did (Nanos, Janelle 2008). If the anesthesiologist failed to report himself then of course, the physician would be obliged to report it. This may discourage other doctors to go to the doctor themselves but again, that risk is outweighed by patient safety in the OR (Nanos, Janelle 2008).

In this scenario, I can imagine being torn over what to do. There are guidelines that are in place that are the same for everybody no matter their position, but it would be difficult for me to be the one to report it. The doctor had been successful throughout his entire residency and hold had the one hiccup where he lost consciousness briefly. At the end of the day however, the patient safety comes first, especially in the OR. There may even be situations that the physician hasn’t disclosed to the other doctor so it is best to not even take the risk. Even though the anesthesiologist’s condition was treatable, there is still some risk involved with the history of his condition (Nanos, Janelle 2008). Eventually the anesthesiologist resigned, but a note went into his file in order to inform other hospitals of his condition in case he tried to pick back up where he left off without informing anybody of his condition (Nanos, Janelle 2008). Honoring privacy is noble in any profession but this scenario was too serious to ignore and it completely trumps patient/doctor privilege (Nanos, Janelle 2008).