The principle of nonmaleficence in healthcare entails that “...we should not cause unnecessary injury or harm to those in our care” (Vaughn 10). However, the beneficence principle goes beyond this and says, “...we should actively promote the well being of others and prevent or remove harm to them” (Vaughn 10). Nonmaleficence and beneficence go hand in hand in the healthcare environment, though they can be used as separate principles to follow. Most treatments involved in curing any type of illness have risks involved. For example, taking an antibiotic for an infection could potentially put you at risk for Clostridium difficile colitis or taking Platinol for breast cancer could cause you to become ill and feeble. However, both treatments are …show more content…
to promote your well-being. Since no individual is the same, healthcare providers have to decide what are the best options for a particular patient. “Implicit in the principle of nonmaleficence is the notion that health professionals must exercise “due care.” The possibility of causing some pain, suffering, or injury is inherent in the care and treatment of patients...” (Vaughn 10). Putting a patient at unnecessary risks is not practicing nonmaleficence and could potentially harm or be the reason for the death of a patient. For example, let’s say a young woman was diagnosed with having endometrial pain. She has never been on birth control before, although birth control has been known to help with pain associated with endometriosis due to the regulation of certain types of hormones such as estrogen. The doctor has the option of suggesting that the young women go in for surgery to remove the endometriosis, even though he knows it usually comes back, or he could suggest trying the birth control pills first to see if it helps. Obviously, surgery should be a last resort in this case since it is invasive and is not always effective at removing endometriosis. If the doctor jumps to deciding that the patient should undergo laparoscopic surgery first, then he or she is not practicing nonmaleficence. Birth control pills for the endometriosis have less of a risk of putting the patient in harms way than surgery does. If after a few months the patient still complains of pain, the laparoscopic surgery will be up to the autonomy of the patient and she can weigh the risks and benefits explained by her doctor. Another example of nonmaleficence is not prescribing a certain medication that would interact negatively with a particular medication the patient is already taking. Certain drug interactions can be harmful or lethal and if a doctor disregards this critical information given by the patient, they could put them in unwarranted harms way. Practicing beneficence also means limiting the amount of harm, but it also involves promoting the well being of a patient.
Providing flu vaccines is an act of beneficence in the healthcare industry. There are some individuals who could potentially have a life threating allergic reaction to the vaccine; however, the benefits outweigh the risks in this scenario. Influenza can be life threating, as it was in the past, and providing flu vaccines each year limits the amount of individuals who contract this virus, thus promoting the welfare of others. Another act of beneficence is providing rehabilitation services to those with drug and alcohol addictions. Going through withdraw causes a significant amount of pain and suffering in a recovering addict, however, the end result promotes a more functional individual who is not causing harm to themselves.
Beneficence and nonmaleficence are a balancing act. Most treatments have some sort of risk so it is impractical to assume you can never put a patient in harms way. Nevertheless, healthcare providers have an immense responsibility when it comes to deciding the best option of treatment for their patients. Nonmaleficence is used to reduce the exposure of unnecessary risks and beneficence is used to further that principle and foster the best outcome for the
patient.
The ethical principle of nonmaleficence demands to first do no harm and in this case protect the patient from harm since she cannot protect. Nurses must be aware in situations such as this, that they are expected to advocate for patients in a right and reasonable way. The dilemma with nonmaleficence is that Mrs. Boswell has no chance of recovery because of her increasing debilitating mental incapability and the obvious harm that outweighs the intended benefits. If the decision were to continue treatment, suffering of the patient and family would be evident. Autonomy is the right to making own decisions and freedom to choose a plan of action. When making decisions regarding treatment of another person, it is important to respect the expressed wishes of the individual. John says that his mother would want to live as long as she could, but questions arise related to her quality of life and perception of prolonged suffering by prolonging the dying process. In BOOK states that quality of life changes throughout one’s life ...
medical practices are beneficial; they are done to cure people from illness and to save
Providers must act in the best interest of the patient and their basic obligation is to do no harm and work for the public’s wellbeing. A physician shall always keep in mind the obligation of preserving human life. Providers must communicate full, accurate and unbiased information so patients can make informed decisions about their health care. As a result of their recommendations, providers are responsible for generating costs in health care but do not generate the need for those expenses. Every hospital has both an ethical as well as a legal responsibility to provide care, even if the care may be uncompensated.
With the high degree of variations in health care, patients can be under or over treated or even treated with the wrong treatment for their illness. These unwarranted care techniques can be categorized into three different situations. The first category of unwarranted care is the use of evidence or lack thereof, based on other medical care. The way to explain this category is that a care plan for a patient is proven effective without any proof as to why. The example given by Kongstvedt (2007) is the use of beta blockers post heart attack. Beta blockers prove to be effective in nearly one h...
The four major ethical principles in health care are: Autonomy – to honor the patient’s right to make their own decision (the opposite is paternalism - the health care provider knows best for the patient), Beneficence – to help the patient advance his/her own good, Nonmaleficence – to do no harm (many bioethical controversies involves this principle), and Justice – to be fair and treat like cases alike. All 4 principles are considered to be in effect at all times. In theory, each is of equal weight or importance. Ethical responsibilities in a given situation depend in part on the nature of the decision and in part on the roles everyone involved play.
With the example of dealing with an uninsured homeless patient, distributive justice is extremely important. Distributive justice deals with the allocation of resources, such as finances and the time a provider spends with each patient. The need is the issue which is measured by risk. While it would be unjust to not treat a homeless individual due to being uninsured, it would mean an ethical dilemma for the provider. While turning such patient away could be morally wrong for a healthcare worker, looking at the distributive principle is important in order to decide the best course of action of how to treat the individual with available
Ethical principles in healthcare are significant to the building blocks of mortality. The principles are beneficence, autonomy, justice, and nonmaleficence. Although these principles can be certainly followed they can also be disregarded. Beneficence is a theory that assures each procedure given is entirely beneficial to that patient to help them advance within their own good. For example, There was a young girl, the age of 17. She had been being treated at a small private practice since she was born. She was recently diagnosed with lymphoma and was only given a few more years to live. Her doctors at the private practice who had been seeing her for years were very attached to her and wanted to grant this dying girl her every wish. They promised
The medical Profession recognizes that patients have a number of basic rights. These include but are not limited to the following: the right to reasonable response to his or her requests and need and needs for treatment within the hospital's capacity. The right to considerate, respectful care focused on the patient's individual needs. The right of the patient to make health care decisions, including the right to refuse treatment. The right to formulate advance directives. The right to be provided with information regarding treatment that enables the patient to make treatment decisions that reflect his or her wishes. The right to be provided upon admission to a health care facility with information about the health care provider's policies regarding advance directives, patient rights, and patient complaints. The right to participate in ethical decision making that may arise in the course of treatment. The right to be notified of any medical research or educational projects that may affect the patient's care. The right to privacy and confid...
The patient has to be completely free to make this decision, with absolutely no power whatsoeverin the insurance company's hand to force it. On the other hand, giving the opportunity to the patient to consider the expenses against the advantages and them make this decision about their own health care would be morally incorrect.. Indeed, only the patient can justify the morality in the situation which makes this hard decision for himself or herself, instead of some third party government or insurance company bureaucracy. Also, basic economic logic tells people that somebody should be making this decision.
Steinbock, Bonnie, Alex J. London, and John D. Arras. "The Principles Approach." Ethical Issues in Modern Medicine. Contemporary Readings in Bioethics. 8th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2013. 36-37. Print.
Vaccinations have been a controversial topic over the years because the benefits are inevitably invisible. People who do not receive the disease are unaware of the good that comes out of the vaccination as well as the risks. There are multiple killer diseases out in the world that could and do harm unsuspecting victims and need to be prevented; therefore, vaccinations are the solution. A vaccination is the injection of a killed or weakened organism that produces immunity in the body against that organism (vaccine.gov). Research shows that vaccinations have decreased the percentages of diseases such as Measles, Mumps, and Rubella, more than 90 percent (Immunize for Good). Even though some parents are worried about the slight risks and the money
The benefits of vaccinations are clear, once vaccinated millions of people will be protected from life threating illnesses. People are more likely to contract the illness if not vaccinated, these diseases can often lead to the unvaccinated person become seriously ill and ending up in the intensive care unit or even death. Vaccines are one of the best defences against
To conclude, vaccines are proved as the safest methodology to prevent an epidemic disease breakout throughout the world. These injections are only given to people after a careful and long-term review by various pediatricians and health professionals. Side effects after vaccination is very rare. The benefits of getting inoculations are much greater than the possible side effects for almost all people. Thus, to solidify the safety of our society to the great extent, the U.S. government should legislate to provide and require vaccinations for every child by providing a governmental subsidy to offer vaccination at the possible lowest cost. This will prevent epidemic diseases that may endanger society.
Researchers are also looking for new ways to improve vaccines, and they use clinical research patients to do so. Clinical patients are being tested on to see if something works in the medical practice. Before a vaccine is created the researchers behind that certain vaccine have to do clinical research studies. In these clinical trials the patient is tested and if they fit the requirements then they are eligible to take place in the study. This can help people because if the vaccines work then the vaccines can be used to help other people. Also through clinical research they can help and improve the
Medical ethics refers to the relationship between health professionals and patients. The trust of patients in physicians has been vanishing. Today a lot of health care providers primary concerns seem to be in profit rather than in providing the proper healthcare to the public. Medical ethics consist of several different principles. Nonmaleficence, beneficence, justice, and autonomy are just a few of the many principals. Nonmaleficence enacts that a health care providers, can never use treatment to injure or wrong their patients. Beneficence claims that health care providers are obligated to help others further their interest. Justice requires health providers treat every patient as equal and provide equal treatment for everyone with the same