Coursework Portfolio
Introduction
Portfolio writing involves analysis of the academic lessons and experiences that an individual acquires over a period of time. The main ideology of this course work involved the ethical perspective of the Health care sector. Experiments and research conducted with the aim of improving the future care and treatment of patients is sometimes swamped with ethical questions and concerns due to the methods of research which are conducted.
Discussion
The ability to access health care and health care facilities is the right to all human kind. I believe that even if it will cost the tax payers a few extra coins those opposing the equal access and provision of health care to all are not ethical in their reasoning as there are concerned more over their material wealth over the overall well being of the human kind. Every individual has the right to life and this is possible if all individuals can access universal healthcare. It is the duty of the government to ensure that this provision of health care is available to all regardless of the social and the economic class of its citizens.
I strongly believe that it is wrong for an individual to loose his life due to a disease or an ailment that he or she could have been cured off had him or her been able to access the right medications. It is therefore ethically wrong for the accessibility to quality medication to be left to the rich and the well off individuals who have personal health insurances and can therefore access any form of treatment no matter the cost. Who will speak for the poor? Should they continue to suffer due to their poor status? It is about time that the government undertakes stringent steps to alleviate the suffering of those that wish to access quality health facilities but they cannot due to the unaffordable high cost of treatment and health care.
The coursework enabled me to improve the three crucial goals involved in the study of the coursework. One such goal is the analytical skills. Top be graded as having acquired adequate analytical skills the student should be in apposition to visualize, understand and be in apposition to solve various problems and issues with relation to the information that the student has at hand. In the study and analysis of this course work, I was able to sharpen my analytical skills through the study of various units. For instance on the study of the controversial issue that involves the payment of donors in exchange for organs.
I was able critically read and analyze the controversy that involves the payment of organ donors. It is unethical to pay organ donor as the act of donating organs should be on a voluntary basis and not monetary incentives that may force an individual that is not willing to donate, to do so due to financial constraints. The ethical conflict arises when the doctors have a desire to save a patients life but they do not have the organ needed. By paying the donors, it is a kind of an encouragement to those that are thinking of donating their organs as the shortage of organ donors is severely felt in hospitals.
Ethical controversies also arise while conducting researches and experiments. For instance the Tuskegee studies as well as the Willowbrook studies. These are two controversial studies that were analyzed and indicated a high degree of ethical malpractices. The participant’s lives were put at risk against their consent. In the Tuskegee case for instance they were led to that they were receiving treatment yet they were not further putting their lives at risk.
I disapproved with the methods of acquisition of participant and conducting research at the expense of other human beings. Every individual has the right to life and medical care and it was wrong for the medics to conduct such studies at the risk of the patient’s lives. Deception and lies so as to acquire the consent of innocent participant is not only unethical but also illegal and should be banned. Participant in any medical research should be aware of the implication of the participation in the study.
From the study of these units I was able to learn that there are several medical ethics values that all healthcare practitioners should abide by. For instance the medics should act in the best interest of the patients, the health care providers should also ensure that the patients are not harmed in any way and the ethical issue of truth and honesty should be upheld. These values were ignored by those who conducted the Tuskegee syphilis study as the patients did not receive their treatment and their health deteriorated.
After analyzing the discussed case studies and how they violated the code of ethics, I researched on the advancements that have been established across the world to ensure that experiments and research studies that are conducted at the expense of the participants are not done again.
I found out that ethical guidelines such as the Declaration of Helsinki have been established to ensure that medical research that use human experimentation. The Helsinki declaration focuses on the acquisition of consent from the participants. In the UK for instance the General Medical Council gives an overview of good medical practice with reference to the conduct of doctors with the emphasis on the safety of the patients. I believe the establishment of such ethical bodies in the health care fraternity will act as a monitor to all the health practitioners when they are conducting their studies and test to patients (Ashcroft, & Draper, 2007).
On the concept of utilitarianism, emphasis lays on the moral worth of an act. It involves weighing the pros and the cons of an act before carrying it out (Ashcroft, & Draper, 2007). This concept can be used in reference to the application of ethical concepts with regards to resuscitation of infants that are extremely underweight. Though the doctor’s main objective is to save the lives of the patients placed under their care, the resuscitation of extremely low birth weight infants may come with its own ethical violation as the child’s chances of survival are minimal.
I support that the medical practitioners should strive to save the life of the child but if an only if sufficient test prove that the child has an adequate chance of survival for instance a child who has been born after the 36th week has a higher chance of survival than an infant born after 24 weeks. There is therefore no point of resuscitating an infant whop will suffer more and be in pain and constant medication so as to survive. In stead of bringing happiness as the utilitarian view supposes the infant will psychologically and financially strain the parents.
Conclusion
The study of this course has been eye opener to me as it lays emphasis on ethics. I have realized that though the patients are dependent on the health care practitioner for treatment so that they can be treated, it is the right of the patient to be informed of the tests and trials that are to be conducted on the them and the severity of the test and the drugs that he or she is to be given.
I discovered that many of the health practitioners tend to ignore some of the rights that the patients have for instance the right to choose treatment and the right to be vividly informed of the functions of a drug in case it is being used for trial purposes. What I have learned is that the patients should be informed with honesty and truth of the side effects negative or positive before he/she agrees to be involved in the experiment.
Reference
Ashcroft, R. & Draper, H. (2007). Principles of health care ethics. John Wiley and Sons
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