Roles of the Medical Professionals in Transplant - Essay Example

? BABY JESSE SEPULVEDA (1986) CASE Introduction The case relates to an infant called Jesse Sepulveda born in 1986. The child was born with a defect affecting the heart. The fatal defect known as hypoplastic left-heart syndrome is a defect where the heart is not well developed. Transplant was initially denied, but after publication of the case by National Right to Life Committee, and anti abortion organization, the transplant was allowed. The hospital had declined the transplant request initially because of the postoperative care. It was reported that the mother was a drug addict. Transplant was allowed when custody of the child was handed to his grandparents. The parents appealed for a donor through public television through Phil Donahue’s program where parents of a brain dead child decided to help the couple. The arranged transplant had brought confusion among medical practitioners in Michigan as a baby in Kentucky was on top of the transplant list had been bypassed by baby Jesse. There was a heated debate over the criteria for approval and arranging transplants in the state. Baby Jesse received the transplant which took four hours. The child began to develop arterial obstructions, which prompted the need for the second transplant (Devettere, 2009). The legal and ethical issues’ concerning the medical staff was concerned with the U.S organ donor program. The organ donor program was failing, because of the methods used by the hospital to locate the heart. There was a public outcry by the parents of the Kentucky baby that money and power should not be used as criteria to obtain organs. The reason why baby Jesse got the organ was because of the wide publicity about the case. The decision to stay anonymous by the parents of the Kentucky baby was used as a reason why the organ donor program had failed. Roles of the medical professionals The key medical professionals in the case are officials in the organ donor program in the United States. The role of the officials is to make sure that the right procedures are followed when awarding a client an organ. The officials should ensure that the list is followed regardless of publicity and power behind the patient. Maintaining equal treatment for all the candidates on the list would ensure that the program works properly. The surgeons conducting the surgery on the patient also have a responsibility to the patient and the donor program. The surgeons should ensure that the correct procedures are followed before transplanting an organ into the patient. This would reduce the controversy affecting the organ donor program. The correct protocol should be followed to ensure the deserving patient gets the organ (Potter, 1988). A medical practitioner appeared in the program to announce that an organ has been found for baby Jesse. Standard procurement procedures had been ignored by hospital officials thus leading to the ethical issues. Through advertising, the well organized network of organ procurement was bypassed by the medical staff in the hospital. Although the parents were able to reach more people due to the world wide coverage of the story. A neonatologist called Dr. Ed Beaumont admitted that the heart was offered to Jesse because the parents donating the organ had heard about the Jesse case. He offered the organ before consulting the Michigan organ procurement agency (Farrell, 2011). Aspect of medical information and care From the case, it is evident that there was a lack of communication between doctors and the organ donor agency. The organ donor program in the United States stipulates that organ donation benefits the patients on top of the list regardless of the influence. The program should be followed to avoid ethical issues arising. Baby Jesse got the organ after there was massive publication of the case on public media while the Kentucky baby benefited from no publicity. The parents had opted for an anonymous approach to searching for the donor which meant that the hospital would contact them incase a donor surfaced (Devettere, 2009). Protection of the patient’s information was compromised in the Jesse case which may be seen as misuse of client’s privacy. The Jesse story attracted world wide media coverage which jeopardized the credibility of the donor program. The case affected the parents of the infant as their personal information was also released to the press. In the hospitals defense, Jesse appeal for a heart was denied due to the care needed after the operation could not be provided by the parents. The mother was also reported being a drug user. Care had to be turned to the grand parents for the hospital to grant the appeal for a new heart (Potter, 1988). Release of patient’s information There is a need to educate the society about organ donation to the public to enable those on organ donor lists to benefit from donors. Baby Jesse is an example of how the media can be useful in creating awareness and providing information to the public. The problem is the content that the media releases to the public and its effect on the patient. Control of information released to the public lies in the hands of the guardians and should be enacted by the medical practitioners. Doctor patient confidentiality should be observed to prevent a bleach of ethics ((Gruessner, 2008). In this case, all the medical information released to the press should be agreed upon by the guardians and the medical personnel. This would enable the hospital to indemnify itself from any obligation regarding the bleach of information released. The two parties should ensure that all information provided to the press is in accordance to the privacy contract. The lawyers of the hospital should also go through the information provided to the press to ensure that no damaging information is released to the press. In case, the information about the mothers drug use could be damaging to her credibility and this information should be concealed by the hospital. It would also be advisable to follow medical organ donor protocol as stipulated in the donor program. The program gives the right procedures of procurement and transplant of organs in the United States. The hospital may use these protocols to ensure that there are no legal and ethical issues that may arise from the transplant procedure (Farrell, 2011). Influences to the case Organ donation in the community needs to be facilitated to enable patients to benefit from organs. Cultural hindrances to the act of organ donation should be eliminated to enable the community to understand the benefits of organ donation. With an informed public, the waiting list will become shorter and such ethical issues witnessed in the case will reduce (Gruessner, 2008). The manner in which the case was handled brought about an environment that would affect the patient. The transplant had been disallowed due to the mother’s drug problem and the ability to care for the baby after the operation. The delayed treatment could have affected the patient’s ability to recover fully. The case caused the organ donor program to implement a new federal organ donor system to ensure that patients on top of the list were considered first. This made baby Jesse third transplant impossible as his body had already rejected two transplants (Devettere, 2009). Baby Jesse died after the second heart transplant failed. The patient had received a heart transplant offer her condition was publicized in the media. A donor agreed to donate a heart which caused controversy. This was due to the policies used by the donor agency to grant patients transplant. The organ procurement procedures need to be followed to ensure that there is no controversy in the delicate process. The case changed the medical field as stringent measures were enforced to the organ procurement process with adaptation of a new federal organ donor system. The system marches organ donors with patients in the system to ensure credibility in the organ donation agency. References Devettere, R. J. (2009). Practical decision making in health care ethics: Cases and concepts. Washington, D.C: Georgetown University Press. Farrell, A.-M., Price, D. P. T., & Quigley, M. (2011). Organ shortage: Ethics, law, and pragmatism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Gruessner, R. W. G., Benedetti. (2008). Living donor organ transplantation. New York: McGraw-Hill Medical. Potter, V. R. (1988). Global bioethics: Building on the Leopold legacy. East Lansing, Mich: Michigan State University Press. Read More