Ethical issues in Health Care Management - Essay Example

Identify potential causes for the problem you began addressing in module Ethical issues in Health Care Management) and explain how you would go about assessing these causes in the context of a specific organization. The causes for ethical issues derive from the crush between legal realities and personal values and the breach of the established policies and certain exceptions to the rules. Because of the potential causes of ethical failure healthcare organizations are in need for ethical education.

Most essentially the causes for ethical problems originate from the inability of people to comply with the constituted set of practices and ideals.One of the most baffling and difficult potential causes for ethical issues in the healthcare system is the doctor-patient relationship. Let’s take for example a fictitious healthcare center. In any case the issue of doctor-patient relationship can extend much more in reality and can indulge even the healthcare personnel – nurses, caregivers and medical assistants.

We can discover multi-layer ethical issues arising on the grounds of giver-receiver relation. This relationship is radically distinctive in the sense that one has the advantage of possessing certain knowledge and the other is exposed, vulnerable and intimidated to trust. In order to prevent misuse of the giver (medical personnel and doctors) and imposing his dominance over the receiver (the patient) ethic codes and value must be solidly instilled. There are several causes for ethical issues in the doctor – patient model.

The first cause is the information availability. We can look at two examples. On one hand due to the nature of the healthcare institution, the personnel is able to extract details from the patient which is any other situation would be considered invasive. Thus, the healthcare institution is obliged to keep high confidentiality to preserve the patients’ rights and privacy. On the other hand, possessing the knowledge allows doctors to withhold sensitive information in order to protect the patient.

A fine line needs to be created and ethical codes in healthcare centers try to achieve the ethical violations. Klugman and Dalinis (2008) give a distinctive commentary on the healthcare issues and practices in the rural areas and how they differ from the urban settings. They comment that rural practitioners are physically placed in small, closed communities where socializing with their patients is necessary outside of the healthcare center. Residents in the rural areas have different perceptions about personal space and privacy which puts into test the ethical codes created in an urban environment (Klugman and Dalinis, 2008).

Physicians in the rural settings face different culture and values than they are in the cities. Therefore, it is essential for the care-providers to introduce different ethical codes, maintaining at the same time the same ethical values. Klugman and Dalinis (2008) address the issue that in urban areas there is a social class division, whereas in rural communities, people do not commercialize healthcare and make it easier for physicians to concentrate on delivering the best healthcare practices.

The public sector in mega-policies is suffocated by bureaucracy and the unique ethical challenges there, are to make healthcare affordable.Selfless attitude and endless faith is the secret to every caring deed. Francis Peabody (cited by Oglesby, 1991) says that "The secret of the care of the patient is in caring for the patient."Reference:Klugman, C. and Dalinis,P., (2008) Ethical Issues in Rural Health Care, The Johns Hopkins University PressOglesby, P (1991), The Caring Physician: The Life of Dr.

Francis W. Peabody, Boston Medical Library in the Countway Library of Medicine