Working in the field of health care can be both rewarding and challenging as every decision made about the medical procedures and treatments tend to have merits and demerits. However, healthcare providers rely on their competence and clinical intuitions as well as the principles of ethical decision making while arriving at the right medical procedure and treatment. Some patients’ illnesses can be challenging for the physicians to diagnose and thus require the application of professional judgment to arrive at the right medical procedure that is beneficial for the patient while also cost-effective. The physician’s decision to take the patient for surgery rather than the CT scan was the right decision. The health care providers need to give patients care that is beneficial and all the procedures and treatments recommended must aim at bringing the most good to the customers as stated in the principle of beneficence.
While the patients’ conditions seemed to be similar to that of appendicitis, this was not a conclusive determination. At the same time, CT scan is expensive for the patient who does not have insurance and would, therefore, have to pay for $1500 out of his pocket for the treatment or give the hospital the uncompensated burden. Dr. Charles is a qualified physician with over ten-year experience and thus can be considered competent enough to make the right medical procedure. To ensure there is principle of beneficence, physicians are required to maintain high levels of knowledge and skills and to apply competence using the best medical practices and procedures based on their clinical judgment as well as technical skills. The decision to take the patient for surgery instead of CT scan was, therefore, the right option considering the benefits and burden aspects of it. While the medical procedure needs to provide maximum benefits to the patient, it should be cost-effective and must not burden the patients (Chadwick & Gallagher, 2016). At the same time, the hospital may be put up with the burden of uncompensated costs for a medical procedure that is not considered standard and inconclusive. The decision is right for the patient in providing most benefit and least burden, while it also helps the hospital to avoid unstandardized procedures that come with high costs.
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The principle of justice states that “there should be an element of fairness in all medical decisions: fairness in decisions that burden and benefit, as well as equal distribution of scarce resources and new treatments, and for medical practitioners to uphold applicable laws and legislation when making choices” ( Ten Have , 2015). This principle requires that the physicians make decisions that are fair in terms of benefit as well as a burden to the patients. It requires a balance that can help maximize benefits to the patients while minimizing costs to both the patient and hospital through effective use of resources. In this, a physician must, therefore, choose a medical procedure and treatment method that meets the two elements, benefits maximization, and cost minimization.
In the case study, the justice principle can be applied by considering the benefits and burden that would result from conducting a CT scan. If CT scan is considered unstandardized and inconclusive procedure yet, it incurs huge costs, and then it can be considered not a right choice for the patient. Because the physician uses his clinical intuition and medical skills, it would be fair to go for surgery because this would benefit the patient while also lowering the burden of having to incur huge costs for CT scan. The case entails making a fair decision based on both benefits and burden as well as effective use of available resources.
References
Chadwick, R., & Gallagher, A. (2016). Ethics and nursing practice . Macmillan International Higher Education.
Ten Have, H. (2015). Respect for human vulnerability: the emergence of a new principle in bioethics. Journal of bioethical inquiry , 12 (3), 395-408.
