Code of Ethics Paper - Essay Example

Doctors quiet often come across with difficult situations in which they were confused of whether to inform the patient about his/her critical conditions or not. Most of the patients may develop more stress and their condition may become too bad if they came to know that their diseases are incurable and their remaining time in the earth is limited. This often prevents the doctors from informing them about their exact conditions. But as per medical ethics a patient has every right to know about his medical condition even if it is worst or good.

Moreover he/she has the right to know more about his health conditions and to accept or reject treatments. In short, autonomy of the patients in accepting or rejecting treatments often been raises many ethical questions. This paper briefly analyses the feasibility of enforcing autonomy of patients in accepting or rejecting treatments in healthcare sector. Autonomy of patients and ethical theories As per the Utilitarian theory of ethics, the moral validity of an action is determined by the outcome of the action.

But as per Kantian ethical theory the purpose of morality is not to make others happy, but to do the right thing just for the sake of doing (Maccarelli, 2006). Utilitarian always assess an activity based on the utility of it. Suppose a patient is experiencing severe pain and the doctors have no hope in saving his life. Under such circumstances the patient may demand mercy killing. If the doctor accepts the patient’s demand, the patient will be benefitted or the utility of mercy killing will be positive for the patient.

However, medical ethics ask the healthcare professionals to save the life of the patients rather than taking it. In other words, the doctor will be put into a dilemma when the patient demands mercy killing. But as per medical ethics the autonomy of the patient should be respected. The patient has every right to know about his/her medical condition and the doctor is liable to explain him/her about the present condition and the future prospects. Legally or morally, the doctor don’ have the right to keep the health conditions of the patient as a secret.

Keeping the patient optimistic about the recovery when there is no chance is one way of cheating the patient. The patient has trusted the doctor and hence it is morally wrong to give him wrong information about his/her health condition. In short, according to utilitarian ethics, the autonomy of the patient should be given prominence over the professional ethics of the doctor. According to the principles of utilitarianism, cultural, intellectual and spiritual pleasures are of greater value than mere physical pleasure.

When we give autonomy to the patients in determining their future, the patients can prepare themselves for accepting the death just like Britain’s famous reality show celebrity Joe Goody did. Joe Goody has celebrated even her death and she has earned lot of money for her kids by selling the outright claim for telecasting her last moments. In short, respecting the autonomy of the patients in taking decisions about their future will bring material benefits also to the patients and the relatives.

Kantian ethics also argues in favour of the autonomy of patients. Kant argued that we usually label a parson’s activity as good or evil based on our traditional beliefs and customs rather than