Ethical Issues In Health Care Essay

604 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: 12 rights of patients

Ethics is the moral principle of doing that is right for our patients. However, there are some situations in where doing what is right conflict with other principles. As dental hygienist we have to provide the best care for our patients. The services we offer need to avoid injuring or hurting the patients. Also, they need to be able to remove any existing condition that is affecting patients. However, the first thing we need to have in mind is that patients have the right to accept or refuse treatment. When our duty conflict with the patient’s decision of not receive treatment, this put us in an ethical dilemma. Ethical dilemma A patient decides he or she wants to save money by refusing X-rays for the fourth year in a row. The patient is exercising his or her autonomy. However, the hygienist realizes this puts him or her in an ethical dilemma. Not taking X-rays for so long is a form of nonmaleficence, and it does not benefit the patient and can harm the patient due to undetected periodontal disease, decay, pathology, and more. …show more content…

• The patient has not have x-ray in four years. There are some conditions that are not visible clinically, like interproximal decay, recurrent caries, bone loss, and periapical abscesses. These conditions might affect the patient’s general health if they are not treated. Also, can cause him/she pain, loss teeth, and might need more expensive treatment on the long run. • Patient has the authority to decide to refuse

Show More
Related

  • Dental Hygienist: An Essential Piece in a Dental Office

    1756 Words  | 4 Pages

    A dental hygienist is a very important role in any dental office. As stated by a dental assistant, “Dental hygienists work closely with the dentist as well as hands on with the patients. They assist dentists with operative procedures such as fillings and extractions, and making molds of patients teeth” (Wilson, Jennifer). A large part of their job is teaching patients proper dental care to ensure a lifetime of healthy teeth. This includes proper brushing and flossing techniques. According to the job out look, a day as a dental hygienist can include taking x-rays, cleaning and scaling teeth, charting treatment plans, putting sealants on teeth, taking impressions of teeth and completing information about the patient’s oral and medical history (Summary). In some states dental hygienist are allowed to give local anesthetic and place and remove sutures (Delivering Local Anesthetic). According to advantages of becoming a dental hygienist, hygienists spend more hands on time with the patients than the dentist does. These are some of the instruments that dental hygienists use on a daily basis: toothbrush, scaler, mirror, ultrasonic scaler, explorer, suction, computer, salvia ejector, rubber cap polisher, dental models, x-ray machine and probe. The dental hygienist uses a toothbrush to remove soft plaque from the teeth. Plaque is a soft coating on the teeth that contain bacteria. The bacteria can cause tooth decay and gum disease. The amount of plaque on the teeth gives the hygienist an idea of how well the daily brushing and flossing of the patient’s teeth are completed on a regular basis. The scaler is used to remove hardened plaque or calculus from the teeth. The mirror is used to look closely at the surfaces of the teeth a...

    Read More

  • Dental Hygienist Case Study

    716 Words  | 2 Pages

    Dental hygiene is amongst many professions that come with an increased risk of injury. In fact, evidence suggests that the incidence of dental professionals acquiring musculoskeletal disorders is reaching 96%. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), these complications are a result of “repetitive motion or awkward posture for more than 2 hours at a time, unassisted frequent manual handling (eg, scaling an area using the same strokes), and unassisted forced manual handling (eg, heavy calculus removal using hand-activated instruments)”. These complications not only affect the quality of life for the

    Read More

  • Ethical Dilemmas As A Dental Assistant

    351 Words  | 1 Pages

    An ethical decision that I was faced with within my professional career was about a month ago. I’m a dental assistant so I work with people every day and I have to deal with people and their personal bias. I had a patient that was underage and she come into the operatory by herself. I asked the patient did she have a guardian with her and she said “yes”, and she started to inform me that her grandfather didn’t like African American people. At that point I was faced with an ethical dilemma to not inform her grandfather about the treatment or to faced her grandfather, that I knew didn’t care for African American people. The problem was very difficult because I didn’t know how her grandfather was going to react toward me as a professional person.

    Read More

  • Ethics and Law in Dental Hygiene: Case Studies 16 and 17

    1560 Words  | 4 Pages

    Case 16 This case presents a very delicate situation that presents many legal and ethical questions. Do you tell your brother or partner he has HIV? I would tell my brother, but the how and when, may vary based on circumstances. From a professional ethical standpoint, it would be unethical to disclose the patient’s HIV status without consent.

    Read More

  • Nursing Case Study: Erin's Dilemma

    717 Words  | 2 Pages

    During week 4, we became familiar with the application of ethics in the nursing practice settings. We learned about ethical theories and principles, which are crucial when practicing in any clinical settings during ethical decision-making and while facing one or multiple ethical dilemmas. Also, we were introduced to the MORAL model used in ethical decision – making progress. The MORAL model is the easiest model to use in the everyday clinical practice, for instance at bedside nursing. This model can be applyed in any clinical settings and its acronyms assist

    Read More

  • Essay On Ethical Issues In Nursing

    1053 Words  | 3 Pages

    The four ethical virtues of health care must be shown, compassion, discernment, integrity and trustworthiness. Respecting a person’s autonomy understanding and acting on the belief the people have the right decision to make decisions and take action based on their beliefs and value systems. The ethical issues that would be encountered will be to treat each person with passion and respect regardless of sex, race, and religious preference. The environment has no human rights violations, sustains nursing ethical

    Read More

  • Karen's Infection Control And Ethical Dilemmas

    1041 Words  | 3 Pages

    Step 1 In the practices of Karen’s infection control, ethical dilemmas may or may not exist. The first issue Jane has with Karen’s practices, is her unnecessary contact of surfaces with contaminated gloves. Karen thoroughly disinfects the operatory after a patient. However, the chance exists that cross contamination could be possible.

    Read More

  • Medical Assistant: An Ethical Dilemmas

    677 Words  | 2 Pages

    An ethical issue or dilemma is a situation that is usually complex and it often involves an apparent mental conflict between moral imperatives. The moral imperatives must be obeyed resulting in transgressing another. When it comes to medical assisting, ethical issues frequently arise in health care according to the article on the ANM healthcare website. A medical assistant is an unlicensed support person who must work under the direction of a licensed professional and also may come upon ethical issues related to the field of practice. Ethical codes in the health care often derive from medical ethics in which they include expectations such as compassion, competency, and professionalism. “The AAMA Medical Assistant Code of Ethics requires medical

    Read More

  • Dental Hygienist Case Study

    326 Words  | 1 Pages

    In order for dental hygienist to promote changes, they need to fulfil the following responsibilities or roles:

    Read More

  • Thomas Plante's Do the Right Thing

    2397 Words  | 5 Pages

    For instance, it deals with intricate professional environments or situations, family and relationship choices and even private economic decisions. As a personal reflection, this paper will give personal opinions, examples and day to day examples of the application of these ethical views. It will use examples of the different dilemma situations. Medical ethics is a system of well placed guidelines, rules and principles to guide the conduct and judgments of medical practitioners and personnel in their endeavor to practice medicine. In this case, there is a dilemma for a supposed unborn baby who apparently has a damaged brain.

    Read More

  • Deontology and Utilitarianism: Ethical Theories for Nurses

    1121 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ethics is not a concept that is thought about often, but it is practiced on a daily basis. Even while unconscious of the fact, people consider ethics while making every choice in life. There are many theories to which people allude, but two radically different theories that are sometimes practiced are deontology and utilitarianism. Deontology deals with actions in a situation while utilitarianism examines the consequences of those actions. While polar opposites on the broad spectrum of ethics, deontology and utilitarianism are bioethical theories that can be applied to nursing practice and personal life situations.

    Read More

  • Nursing Ethics: The Role Of Ethics In Nursing

    823 Words  | 2 Pages

    The word ethics is derived from the Greek word ethos, which means character (1). Being moral always fills a nurse with morals respects, guidelines of good judgment and expert lead. There are three essential obligations for nurses, among many other which are the duty of autonomy, confidentiality, and obligation of care to all patients (2). There are professional duties with becoming distinctly legitimate obligations if any law and policies are ruptured in between professional practice. In 2001, a review found that there was an apparent requirement for more guidance on moral predicaments inside the medical professionals, subsequent to expanding legal cases and open request (3). Medical attendants ought to withstand to regulatory law and statutory law while managing the nursing practice.

    Read More

  • Ethical Decision Making Essay

    834 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the profession of Dental Hygiene, ethical dilemmas are nearly impossible to avoid, and most hygienists at some point in their professional life will have to face and answer ethical questions. Some ethical conflicts the dental hygienist may encounter can be quite complex and an obvious answer may not be readily available. In the article Ethical Decision Making, Phyllis Beemsterboer suggests an ethical decision-making model can aide the dental hygienist in making appropriate decisions when confronted with an ethical situation, and that the six-step model can serve dental hygienists in making the most advantageous ethical decision (2010).

    Read More

  • Ethical Issues In Dental Schools

    1249 Words  | 3 Pages

    As the wise American Judge Potter Stewart once said, “Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do.” In dental school, we learn many things: we learn how to cement crowns and set denture teeth; we learn how to schedule patients and write prescriptions. But the most important thing I believe that we have to take away from our four short years as students is how to ethically treat and respect our patients. We stumble upon situations daily at the dental school that require moral judgment and ethical decision making, and we have many avenues of assistance to help us make these decisions. Sometimes, however, those “avenues” are submerged in a sea of (navy blue) scrubs and we have to decide

    Read More

  • Essay On Categorical Imperative

    974 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ethics is defined as the morality that defines a person’s actions or behaviors; a viewpoint to see things as good or bad, right or wrong. Almost all clinical situations for a nurse have to do with ethics. We, as nurses, have a responsibility to do the right thing. A situation that comes to mind is when a patient who was addicted to opiates was recovering from a traumatic surgery. In report, the prior shift nurse made comments about the patient’s drug history, and that they were probably drug searching.

    Read More

More about Ethical Issues In Health Care Essay

Open Document