Ethical Issues in the Healthcare: What You Need to Know

These are normally the facts or opinions for or against certain medical intervention. The 10 month old boy had been transferred from three different medical institutions with a diagnosis of leukemia.

The baby had suffered severe anemia prior to the transfer which had been dealt with by the referring physician through a transfusion. The doctor also noted signs of tumor which led to the basic prognosis of leukemia.

Patient preferences refer to different evaluations of the patient on the medical outcome. The doctor advised that specific therapy had to be offered in order to make a better prognosis on the type of leukemia the infant was suffering from.

However, the parents were unwilling to go through with any kind of therapy treatment. They would opt for a faith healing service for the child. They argued that all medical measures would likely fail. The patient who was only a 10 month infant could not make a decision on his own hence the controversial issue of who would be responsible for deciding on his behalf.

Quality of life considers whether any measures taken are in the best interest of the individual’s health. In this case, what proof makes the faith option of a cure more successful than medical intervention?

Treatments such as chemotherapy are highly proven and backed by science hence more conventional. Agents of the society such as physicians are therefore forced into a dilemma of choosing the most ethical choice.

Medical decisions are not simply left out two autonomous agents, that is, the physician and the patient involved. They are controlled and influenced by contextual features such as relationships involved.

In the case of the ten year old, the parents retain the parental obligations of making the choice for their child. The physicians were unable to influence the parents to make the ethical decision. They could therefore, not proceed further and administer therapy since they had to respect the parents’ decision.