A provider has ethical duties and responsibilities to be transparent with the client regarding data needed for reporting or the funding sources. Ethics is a lofty term used philosophically. In particular, workers in the hospital setting are faced with an ethical and societal dilemma during the treatment period. Ethics can be used intellectually to handle the moral issues in healthcare; it refers to the philosophical design or approach for critical evaluation of choices and activities taken by people to deal with different daily life concepts. The primary dilemmas related to healthcare providers include individual beliefs and values. Societies view people with perceptions and prejudice, which has significantly influenced effective care administration (Abuse, 2010). For instance, it is typical for a patient in the health care environment to be perceived negatively for contracting HIV or being poor. Since the issues of HIV and poverty are emotionally charged in nature, providers are compelled to have the necessary equipment or tools to understand the ethical issues.
The primary technology used in treating or somewhat reducing the effects of the virus is antiretroviral drugs. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved this as the primary method of treating HIV. When antiretroviral therapy (ART) is used regularly, it can lower the virus's levels within the blood and body fluids to the undetectable level called viral suppression. Consequently, people with HIV should start using ART therapy at early stages, use it consistently, and realize viral suppression to be healthy and elongate their lifespan.
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Such technology by health care providers to treating poor patients with HIV is based on various moral guidelines based on utilitarianism, Kantian deontology, ethical egoism, or social contract ethics. For instance, Kantian deontology confirms that treating people as the end implies treating them appropriately because it is the most superficial action to take. Promoting their welfare is of profound understanding for the health care providers. Kant affirms that there is a need to respect a person’s rights, avoid harming them and try with all possible means to further other people’s ends. However, Kant’s ideas are also founded on deep perceptions. Treating individuals as ends means treating them with the needed respect. Therefore, it is not prudent to manipulate individuals or use them for selfish goals. Therefore, this moral guideline effectively explains the use of technology in treating poor HIV-positive patients.
Kante deontology is focused on the idea that treating other people as ends and showing the utmost respect to their rational levels could have other effects or impacts. For example, there is no need to force adults to do things against their wishes. Rather, they must make their decisions. Kante opines that people should be wary of laws aiming to protect individuals from themselves. For instance, laws that call for people to wear seat belts while driving. Similarly, respecting people calls for self-respect, too (Hodder et al., 2021). One should take good care of oneself, grow their skills, and not just stand by and help others without growing oneself. There are a lot of challenges in understanding Kant's moral system. However, the basics can be applied to a health care worker who finds it difficult to treat a patient with dignity, respect, and value-based on their socio-economic background.
Social technologies such as blogs, crowdfunding, online encyclopedias can be used among patients with HIV and in a state of poverty. Technology is mostly used to enhance antiretroviral therapy among individuals with HIV. Social media and the internet can reach people in dire need of intervention in a broader geographical population who could be afraid to reveal their identities. ART adherences based on technology are promising in various technology sites. For instance, the number of HIV patients in the United States receiving computer-administered ART was significantly higher than those under standard care. In another case, the HIV-positive Africans who have been randomized to receive message texts in their phones with phone calls as a follow-up mechanism, reported high-level adherence to the antiretroviral medications after six months than ones under standard evaluation. U sing that kind of healthcare technology should be based on certain moral guidelines. The social contract theory is the most appropriate approach to explaining the moral guidelines for using this kind of healthcare technology. Hobbes argues that to escape the escapades of nature, we should find an avenue of working as a unit. A society with much stability can produce essential products and distribute them rationally. However, realizing such a society is a hard task (Rachels & Rachels, 1986). Individuals have to understand the rules that should govern their existence. For example, they should agree that harming another person is inappropriate, and promises should be kept. These are the agreements Hobbes refers to as the social contracts. A community should follow some rules and establish various ways of enforcing them. Some of these will incorporate law. For example, anyone who assaults the other should be arrested. The other way is through the court of public opinion, where if one is found lying, then individuals should disregard you. Every rule taken cumulatively forms the social contracts.
References
Abuse, S. (2010). Mental Health Services Administration (2009) Results from the 2008 national survey on drug use and health: national findings (Office of Applied Studies, NSDUH Series H-36, HHS Publication No. SMA 09-4434). Rockville, MD.
Hodder, S. L., Feinberg, J., Strathdee, S. A., Shoptaw, S., Altice, F. L., Ortenzio, L., & Beyrer, C. (2021). The opioid crisis and HIV in the USA: deadly synergies. The Lancet.
Rachels, J., & Rachels, S. (1986). The elements of moral philosophy (p. 9). Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
