Medical Ethics

Medical Ethics: Concerns and Issues

Shirley Roman

HCA 340

Ken Feifer

May 17, 2010

Medical Ethics: Concerns and Issues

Medical ethics is primarily a field of applied ethics, the study of moral values and judgments as they apply to medicine. As a scholarly discipline, medical ethics encompasses its practical application in clinical settings as well as work on its history, philosophy, theology, and sociology. In health care it is essential to adhere to set standards and codes in order to deliver quality of care. One preamble with the code of ethics in the American College of Healthcare Executives is, “the fundamental objectives of the healthcare management profession are to maintain or enhance the overall quality of life, dignity and well-being of every individual needing healthcare service and to create a more equitable, accessible effective and efficient healthcare system” (“ACHE Code”). There are legal, ethical and social implications that occur within the medical field from patient care, nursing, students, doctor-patient relationship; human research and bio-ethic development to improvement of healthcare quality.

In 2002, the Hastings Center began a project titled, ‘The Ethics of Improving Health Care Quality and Safety’. The report by Baily, Bottrell, Lynn, Jennings (2006) of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) states, “health professionals, healthcare organizations, and patients have an ethical responsibility to cooperate in maintaining and improving the quality of healthcare” and continues on to say in protecting the health and safety of its citizens, “government also has ethical responsibilities with respect to quality of care” and also goes on to say that, “it is of unusual consequence because of the role it plays relieving suffering, preventing premature death, restoring function, increasing opportunity, providing vital information about an individuals’ condition and giving evidence of...