Importance of Ethics in Healthcare and Related Legal Ramifications, Essay Example

Ethics in Healthcare

The healthcare industry is one with great responsibility to the public. Patients rely and depend on healthcare professionals to help them cope with their medical issues and also to help them get well. The healthcare industry constantly deals with these issues and they must do so while remaining in strict compliance with healthcare system regulatory requirements and guidelines. This evolves a high level of ethics in the healthcare industry. According to Morrison (2009), ethics in healthcare is a matter of doing what is right, as well as a matter of ensuring that professionals in this industry are knowledgeable enough about their specialties to make solid, logical, and informed decisions when dealing with ethical issues in the healthcare setting. In this vein, Morrison (2009) categorizes ethics into two separate categories: (1) normative and (2) metaethics.

Normative Ethics

Normative ethics deals with what is the right and the wrong. It has to do with taking ethical actions. According to the Encylcopaedia Britannica, normative ethics is related to morals and philosophy connected with right and wrong. This refers to implications from people’s actions that affect others. Normative ethics deals with answering the question of what determines how standards are justified, based on deontological and teleological theoretical aspects (nomative ethics).

• Deontological theories dismiss considerations of values when dealing with ethical standards.These theories are based on what is inherently right in ethcial actions.
• Teleological theories definitely consider values when dealing with ethical standards.These theories are based on goodness and what is valued as a criterion for ethics.

Normative ethics deals with issues such as human rights, social equality, and moral actions that pertain to social issues such as scientific research for genetic engineering. In other words, normative ethics deals with practical moral problems and standards for addressing them (nomative ethics).

Metaethics

This sub-discipline of ethics deals with moral judgments and ethical theories such as those regarding naturalism, intuitionism, emotivism, and prescriptivism, according to the Encyclopaedia Britannica. This discipline assesses the validity of moral claims to understand whether they are true or false. However, these claims are thought to be reasonably justified in non-moral terms, as some more natural (metaethics).

Types of Ethical Issues in the Healthcare Setting

Ethics is of major importance in the healthcare field, and it is comprised of different types of ethical issues that healthcare professionals face, particularly when dealing with controversies such as physician-assisted death or abortion. Other controversies include dealing with conflicts of interests such as inappropriate patient-doctor relationships or illegal prescription medicine schemes for addicted patients. These are examples of highly unethical and illegal activity. It is important to manage these types of ethical issues in the healthcare setting, and this is something charged to leadership in healthcare. This has much to do with organizational leadership as a component of effective management, which contributes to upholding ethical issues in the healthcare setting (Aarons, 2006).

These facts are true because effective healthcare leadership determines how well the organization operates and how well the healthcare staff adhere to regulatory requirements and standards, especially those dealing with ethical issues in the healthcare setting. This is important because the patients’ welfare depends on the healthcare professionals’ open communication and positive thinking within the organization. It is also good for quality improvement to make sure ethical standards are met and ethical regulatory guidelines are adhered to (Aarons, 2006). These standards and regulations are essential to treating patients with respect, as well as protecting their health information.

Protecting Patient Health Information

According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, federal law stipulates that patients’ health information must be protected under the rules of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). This ensures that private health information that is individually identifiable is protected and any breach of protected health security must be reported immediately. Authorized disclosure of protected health information (PHI) is allowed as needed for the care of patients and other authorized purposes (Health Information Privacy).

Rules in Place to Punish Violators

HIPAA regulations are very strict and a Security Rule is in place to punish violators of the policy. According to Health Information Privacy, “The Security Rule specifies a series of administrative, physical, and technical safeguards for covered entities and their business associates to use to assure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of electronic protected health information” (para. 2).

Additionally, it is important that healthcare entities have specific codes of ethics in place to regulate ethical conduct in the workplace. Regarding this, the National Association for Healthcare Quality (2011) is an agency that regulates the code of ethics and practice standards for healthcare professionals. This is something that is necessary for defining a standard of conduct for healthcare professionals. This is an excellent way to promote a standard of ethical commitment to making sure healthcare professionals are honest. Also, it fosters good levels of integrity and accountability. A code of ethics in healthcare is important to maintain the public trust and to ensure guidelines are in place to help professionals respect laws, and free up temptation to engage in fraudulent or deceptive activities. Patients put their trust in the healthcare industry and its professionals, and they have the right to fair and ethical treatment without the threat of intentional or unintentional acts of ethical irresponsibility.

This is one reason that an ethical doctor-patient relationship is essential. Doctor are viewed as a people of authority, and this means they have an obligation not to abuse their authority. Additionally, doctors and all other healthcare professionals must keep patient information confidential in order to protect the privacy and dignity of the patients. This is not only the right thing to do; it is federal law.

Conclusion

Ethics in healthcare is a major issue of concern for patients, healthcare professionals, and the public, in general. However, ethics are also a necessary component of operating healthcare organizations and the business of dealing with patients.

References

Aarons, G. A. (2006, August). Transformational and Transactional Leadership: Association With Attitudes Toward Evidence-Based Practice. Psychiatric Services, 57(8), 1162-1169.

Metaethics. (n.d.). Retrieved from Encyclopaedia Britannica: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/377413/metaethics

Morrison, E. (2009). Health Care Ethics: Critical Issues for the 21st Century: Critical Issues. Jones and Bartlett Publishers, LLC.

Nomative ethics. (n.d.). Retrieved from Encyclopaedia Britannica: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/418412/normative-ethics

The National Association for Healthcare Quality. (2011). The Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice for Healthcare Quality Professionals. Retrieved from http://www.nahq.org/uploads/files/about/codestandards.pdf