Health care ethics and cultural diversity - Essay Example

?Health care ethic and cultural diversity Introduction: The paper discusses about the ethics which needs to be followed in the field of healthcare and discusses about a case in which a dilemma occurs regarding the blood transfusion of a child who is seriously injured after meeting with a fatal accident. The case rises up the concern of ethical dilemma under the domain of clinical ethics. The complex situation over here gives rise to the ethical paradox and analysis of the factors which give rise to the ethical dilemma has been considered. The ethical dilemma has been considered for the stakeholders in this case and their views have also been studied. The personal code of ethics for every individual concerned in this case is an important aspect as these guides the basis to their moral values and influences their decision making skills. The ethical consequences of the views are relevant as their moral sense of judgment is highlighted and their aspect of cultural difference is underlined (Lo, 2009, pp.3-5). The ethical dilemma: The case particularly mentions about a child who has been knocked down by a lorry on her way to school. On being admitted to the hospital, the doctors find out that the girl has suffered massive hemorrhage and her survival depends on the transfusion of blood in her body. However her parents refuse to conduct the blood transfusion process as they belong to Jehovah’s Witnesses and according to them blood transfusion is a sin as specified in the Bible. The dilemma which obviously rises in the mind is whether strict to the religious doctrine and allow the child to perish or to save the life of a five year old and forget the aspect of the religion. The dilemma has crept in the mind because of the fear of religion which the parents of the child suffered as being Jehovah’s witnesses. However the dilemma can be quite fatal as it can lead to the death of the five year old child. The ethical dilemma over here involves the choice of more than one option leaving the life of a child in stake. Ethical issues associated with the dilemma: Various ethical issues may arise in perspective of the dilemma concerned regarding saving the life of a child for the sake of religion. Ethics deals with elements regarding what we should have done rather than focusing on how things are. The dilemma presented over here gives rise to normative ethics. Normative ethics involves moral beliefs which assume ethical norms as the criteria for making moral judgments. The normative ethical system undertakes the clarification of values and reasoning which provides the guideline for making the moral choices and also provides moral justification which are in alignment with specific rules and guidelines (Kagan, 1998, pp.1-3.). Another kind of ethics which can evolve in the particular case is the professional ethics. Professional ethics deals with making moral judgment considering the specific codes of conduct associated with the profession of a person. The professional ethics will also be combined with the practical ethics in this particular case (Koehn, 1994, pp.15-17). The practical ethics deal with the application of moral values in decision making process of the situation which arises in everyday life (Singer, 2011, pp.155-160). In the case of the child, who has been refused to provide with blood transfusion, the development of the following ethics among different persons will give rise to various issues. However as each ethics involves the moral value, the ethics will provide the opinion of saving the life of the child in view of the other circumstances or the factors which have given rise to the dilemma. The dilemma perceived by other people: The arousal of dilemma in the above mentioned case has different set of perception held by different people. The dilemma puts the ethical value of the doctors in question as they have their responsibility for saving the life of the patient. The doctors have high moral duty towards the patients and often the moral duties put them into conflict with greater obligation so that they may prevent harm to others. However at the same time, the doctors cannot impose their set of own values on others including the patients and the patient parties. In view of the dilemma which has occurred in the case, the doctors will feel that it is much important to save the life of a five year old child than adhere to the religion as their views will be more guided by their professional ethics and will consider the religious view to be very much insignificant. The general public may have a mixed response in the matters of the dilemma concerned. The persons who are guided by the moral value will really put the dilemma in question as they will take the decision considering the personal and practical ethics which would provide more priority in saving the life of a child. The pressure groups and the people who provide more value to the religion will also be guided their professional ethics and their set of views will be contrary to that of the doctors or the medical professionals and they will provide their opinion of letting the child expire but should not allow any violation of the religion. However their judgment or the moral views does not consider the humanitarian factor and is a completely biased towards the religion. The religious persons will also be guided by the sense of utilitarianism whereby they will be of the view that the consequence of blood transfusion to the child will be much more serious than the impact of saving the life of the child. Those set of people believe in a different set of theory of happiness and does not considers the moral value while determining what the action of happiness will lead to. Whereas the other set of people concerned with the opinion of saving the life of the child decides on consequentialism to analyze the fact before reaching a solution. The service manager of the hospital will also directly not express his views as their views can lead to a direct conflict with the patient party as they may claim that their religious sentiments might have been insulated. However the service mangers may try to aim at making the parents understand the value of life of their children. The service manager of the hospital in which the patient was admitted also some sort of moral values associated with him who in turn makes him persuade to take such a step. The overall dilemma will be perceived by the people on the basis of their difference in the culture and the values which they hold for themselves and on the society and the external influences they have on themselves. The sense of ethics develops in a person depending on a wide variety of the factors and all this factors plays a crucial role in the decision making process when they person faces serious confrontation. The sense of respect for the lives and determining what is wrong or right comes from the personal experience of the individuals and no set of ethical guideline can in turn help in the generation of such values among the individuals. Conflicts and points of agreements: Various conflicts and point of arguments may creep in because of the dilemma regarding the difference in perception of the parties and the cultural diversity present within different sets of people. The main source of conflict which may result is regarding the autonomy of the people. Every people have the right to express his view whether it involves a sense of ethics or moral values and it is the duty of the other set of people to respect their decision. However in the case of the accident of the child, the autonomous view of the parent regarding disallowing the child to undertake the diffusion of blood has raised many questions regarding the moral values of the parents. However in spite of the argument both sides agree in matters of adhering to the professional ethics or their personal ethics. While the moral values of the parents forced them to held religion as their priority, the moral values of doctors and those other associated with healthcare service though that saving the life of the patient was their prime responsibility. The universal declaration of human rights passed in the year 1948 stresses on the fact that every individuals has the right to live according to their own choice and in this case as the view of the child under question was unable to be collected so the views of the parents were questioned by many parties. The matter of competence also arises in the heath care setting as the patients are provided with the opportunity to make decisions regarding their views. However the decision making capacity is provided to persons who are over the age of 18 and is considered as adult, however those below 16 can refuse to treatment but cannot do so if the treatment is beneficial. However the Mental Capacity Act 2005 determines the fact that when any individual lacks their own capacity to decide on health related matters , the persons taking decision on their behalf should take decisions which appears best for him or her. Based on the mental capacity Act 2005, the case can be argued as the decision taken by the parents of the child does not appear to provide the best benefit to the child and in turn the decision taken by them is actually pushing her towards death. The act also signifies that when the decision relates to the treatment of a person which can be crucial enough in saving the life of a person, no decisions can be taken which can in fact bring death to the person. The principle of best interest as signified by the act raises lot of arguments regarding the validity of the ethical dilemma which has occurred in the particular case. According to the Mental Capacity Act though the parents had the ability to decides on behalf of their daughters fate , but the decision taken by them needed to be constructive rather than putting the life of a child in danger (Great Britain, 2007, pp.20-27). The human rights implemented in the heath care also ensures the fact that the moral ethics are to be maintained in matters of providing health care to the people and no discrimination should creep in the treatment of people. The right to receive health care by all section of the people irrespective of caste, creed and religion has been made mandatory under the human rights and under this laws and acts the denial of treatment to the five year old is questionable under the rules specified in Bible regarding the transfusion of blood. The priority of saving the life of children should have evolved under the general ethics of a person rather and safeguarding the interest of the religion should not be done for the sake of lives of common people. The overall argument regarding the case underlines the moral ethics which needs to be followed in adherence to the various laws. In matters of the point of agreement, the ethics of professionalism or the personal ethics comes into play and argument also arises in the issue of the morality behind the professional ethics or the personal ethics. As all ethics is based on the concept of morality and has been introduced to increase the human values, the personal ethics or the professional ethics of the parents also does not provide justification to the issue. Gender, ethnicity, religion and ethical dilemma: Ethical dilemma has been experienced in various cases and has been influenced by various factors like gender, ethnicity, religion and sexuality. Ethical dilemmas have been experienced under these attributes due to the existence of cultural pluralism. Cultural pluralism exists in the society because of the wide variety of the value systems which exists in the society. The human participants take part in this wide variety of values which suits their meaning and purpose. The various members of the cultural groups have their different beliefs regarding right or wrong conduct and gives rise to ethical dilemmas (Gill, 1997, p.16). The individuals will respect the practices which fall under their value system and will disagree with other sets of practice which they do not endorse. The set of value possessed by an individual could depend upon the religion from which he belongs. In Christianity it has been observed that the members of the Jehovah’s Witness is against the transfusion of blood although it can be significant enough to save the life of a person and this raises question against the ethical dilemma of what is right or wrong. Another example of ethical dilemma which can be cited is the practice of female genital circumcision which is hugely popular in various parts of Africa. The act is popular and is held as an important practice carried out on girls at puberty and signifies the status in the culture that the person is ready for sex and reproduction. Ethical dilemma rises in the issue because of the fact that the process does not accompany any medical benefit and is solely carried out because of the adherence to the values of the culture. The issue has been held as abusive and an act of female oppression but is still existent in the system on account of the psychological cultural benefits (Duncan& Hurnland, 2000, pp.95-96). The issue of male circumcision is also in practice and is followed strictly in Islam and Judaism. The process also does not have any medical benefit as is solely carried out on the basis of the perceived cultural values and as an adherence to the religious guidelines. However the response of the people towards the ethical dilemma is a prime matter of concern (Denniston, et al, 1999, pp.173-175). The voluntary consent and the autonomy of the individuals need to be considered in such matters (Ashcroft, et al, 2007, p.3). Such cases of ethical dilemma may also involve the act of coercion and the individuals may be forced to undertake such action because of the cultural expectations. The importance of the personal autonomy over socio cultural values gives rise to the dilemma but it should not involve any compulsion as observed in some of the cases. In matters of ethical dilemma in the field of healthcare, often cultural values appear to be less important than the medically defined health issues and conflict of values emerges. In order to tackle the ethical dilemmas because of the difference in the culturally set of values an universal value based system needs to be developed under the framework of the human rights and medically defined values should be provided with more priority in the society for the overall development of human values. Conclusion: Ethical dilemmas have emerged to be a prime concern in the modern society. The difference in the culture and value sets of the people provides platforms for arguments in some of the critical issues. The case study in the paper reflected that the parents of a girl who has been the victim of an accident refuses to undergo the process of blood transfusion in the body of the child as they belong to the Jenovah’s witnesses. The ethics of the parents were in question as they provided more importance towards their cultural and religious set of values. The concept of morality which is the prime foundation of any ethics was absent in their judgment. However as per the decision of the parents were considered, the sense of their personal ethics and professional ethics might have also played an influence in reaching to the decision. However the controversial decision is not supported under any regulations of the laws and most of the people from different parts of the society had contradictory views than that of the parents and their moral sense of judgment provided a logical view of saving the life of a child for the sake of religion. Though presence of such cases of ethical dilemmas exist in various range of the society but moral values should be put in more priority in coming to conclusion which involves the question of life and death of an individual. No sense of utilitarianism should prevail in the matter of providing decisions involving ethics and such steps should be introduced by the human rights for the overall benefit of the society (Mill, 2006, pp.1-3). The overall study reveals that cultural diversity has a huge role to play in the field of healthcare ethics. Bibliography: Ashcroft, R, E. et al. (2007). Principles of health care ethics, New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons Denniston, G, C, et al. (1999). Male and female circumcision: Culture, controversy, and change, Colorado: Lynne Rienner Publishers Duncan, B, S & Hurnland, Y.(2000). Female "circumcision" in Africa: Medical, legal, and ethical considerations in pediatric practice, New York: Springer Gill, R. (1997). Moral leadership in a postmodern age, London: Continuum International Publishing Group Great Britain. (2007). Mental Capacity Act 2005 code of practice, London: The Stationery Office Kagan, S. (1998). Normative ethics, Colorado: Westview Press Koehn, D. (1994), The ground of professional ethics, London: Routledge Lo, B. (2009). Resolving ethical dilemmas: a guide for clinicians, Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Mill, J, S. (2006). Utilitarianism: Easyread Comfort Edition, New Jersey:ReadHowYouWant.com Singer, P. (2011). Practical Ethics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Read More