Health Care Ethics, Essay Example

The ethical dilemma in the high costs of health care is a controversial subject. Step-by-step reforms have certainly brought about some useful changes over the past few decades, but this approach has also allowed the costs of Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance to rise to levels previously unimagined and which are unarguably burdensome on the nation’s economy. (Faden 2013)

The HCA seems to be taking a step in the right direction regarding this concern. Plans for sweeping changes to healthcare delivery and financing often represent some very sophisticated thinking by smart and well-intentioned people, but those plans often call for leaps of faith that involve political vulnerabilities fostered by the attitudinal and institutional constraints discussed here. Appeals to moral suasion are only so powerful. President Obama often invoked the language of the absolute imperative of major reform, telling audiences that “the status quo is untenable,” and “everybody understands we can’t keep doing what we are doing.” (Faden 2013)

Another ethical dilemma in the health care industry is the problem of understaffed medical facilities. It would be impossible to calculate a perfect staff level to patient ratio due to all of the unforeseen circumstances and emergencies in the health care industry. It is unfortunate that the HCA owned these eight hospitals mentioned, so they, as well as other medical centers, should move forward in improving their balance of quality and efficiency. The notion “you get what you pay for” does not seem very ethical to the general stakeholders in health care. Not everybody has the money to pay for their treatments and there needs to be better ways to cover them as everybody deserves the opportunity for health care treatment. It would be easier for health care institutions to expand to corporations for stakeholders that offer them fair and reasonable costs in health care. (Tilburt 2013)

References

Faden, R. R., Kass, N. E., Goodman, S. N., Pronovost, P., Tunis, S., & Beauchamp, T. L. (2013). An ethics framework for a learning health care system: a departure from traditional research ethics and clinical ethics.Hastings Center Report, 43(s1), S16-S27.

Tilburt, J. C., Wynia, M. K., Sheeler, R. D., Thorsteinsdottir, B., James, K. M., Egginton, S., … & Goold, S. D. (2013). Views of US physicians about controlling health care costs. Jama, 310(4), 380-389.