Ethics in the Healthcare Setting - Essay Example

Double Effect Double Effect The ethical dilemma of double effect has emerged out of moral theology of the Roman Catholics, the dilemma states that if the outcome of act is wrong according to moral sense but was not carried out with the intention of doing wrong is considered as right, even if the negative effect was known before the act was being carried out (Matzo, 2001, p.128).For example: Pancreatic cancer is the disease from which Mr. Mills is experiencing and due to the disease he is experiencing immense pain and the physician, Mr Robinson, administers morphine to decrease the level of pain, while knowing the medication will increase the speed of the patient’s death. Mr. Robinson is not wrong in administering the medication because the real intent of administering the medication is to relieve patient from immense pain, even though he is known to the fact that the medicine might speed the death of the patient.

Patients believe death or assisted suicide is a treatment for controlling the symptom of pain, but health care professional do not need to perceive assisted suicide as an alternative, rather they can treat the health conditions experienced by patients through different ways (Abrahm, 2000, p.325). American Nurses Association states that nurses should look for ways to help relax the symptoms experienced by patients before death such as extreme pain although these methods of relieving can result in hastening of the death process of a patient.

Therefore, Dr. Robinson should exercise the administration of the drug on Mr. Mills to help relax his pain even if his life has a threat to become shorter due to this activity (ANA, 1985, p.4). According to Judith Schwarz, health care practitioners such as physicians and nurses may take advantage of the double effect reasoning to save themselves from legal issues. Schwarz even stated that the use of morphine might be conducted with intention of assisting patients in suicide but during inquiry, practitioners state that they used the medicine with the intention of decreasing pain and not with the intention of assisting patients in committing suicide (Schwarz, 2007).

According to the consequentialism, the most important aspect of any decision is the outcome of that decision (Duncan, 2010, p.46) . The theory further states that while conducting an act, an individual should have the intention of maximizing those outcomes that are morally important. For example if the aim of conducting an act is to maximize happiness, the use of morphine drug is correct, this is because the drug with maximize the happiness of the patient as the drug will reduce his pain, plus it will even maximize the happiness of the health care practitioner as he was able to help in decreasing the pain experienced by the patient.

Deontology states that the outcome of an activity are not important, rather importance should be given to an individual’s moral obligations due to which that individual conducts an act (Ashcroft, 2007, p.76). So, if the moral obligation of a health care practitioner or a nurse is to decrease the pain experienced by an individual during a painful and incurable disease such as pancreatic cancer, the nurse can administer the patient with morphine to act according to his/her moral obligation of reducing patient’s pain.

ReferencesAbrahm, L. (2000). A physicians guide to pain and symptom management in cancer patients. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.American Nurses Association. (1985). ANA Code for Nurses: With Interpretive Statements. Washington: American Nurses Association.Ashcroft, R. E., Dawson, A., & Draper, H. (2007). Principles of Health Care Ethics. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.Duncan, P. (2010). Values, ethics and health care. Los Angeles, Calif: SAGE.Matzo, M., & Sherman, D. W. (2001). Palliative care nursing: Quality care to the end of life.

New York, NY: Springer Pub.Schwarz, J. Journal of Palliative Medicine, Vol. 10, No. 6. (December 2007), pp. 1288-1297