Solidarity must be committed to advocacy for and health care delivery to non-citizens, and changes in the health care system itself and in legislation, such as the federal 1996 immigration reform legislation and Proposition 187 in California, jeopardize health care access for legal and illegal immigrants in the Untied States (Cochran pp). In 1994, the death from acute leukaemia of a twelve-year-old boy, Julio Cano, was cited by immigrant rights advocates as the first casualty of California's controversial Proposition 187 (Virtue pp)
Sakai said the system does not collect immigration information and therefore has no specific figure on how many illegal immigrants it treats, however physicians and other staff members anecdotally report that many of the charity-care patients are in fact illegal immigrants (Tieman pp). In 2004, Arizona's Proposition 200 wanted state and local governments to verify the identity and immigration status of all applicants for certain public benefits, and to require government employees to report violations (Wood pp)
Thus, the physician in this case faces one of the most common predicaments associated with medical ethics, that is, whether to override the concerns and disagreements of family members and proceed with an operation that will, in the long run, provide relief to the patient and extend his/her life. Another aspect has to do with prognosis which can often be "a critical factor in a patient's choice of desired levels of treatment," especially when the patient suffers from a "disorder of the central nervous system" (Culver, 1990, p
Her physician obviously knows that Ms. Alexander's Alzheimer's will eventually cause her premature death, for in most instances, the prognosis of Alzheimer's is no more than seven-year from the onset of the disease (Glanze, 1990, p
3). Thus, the case study described below is a prime example on how ethical dilemmas in medicine can often become overwhelming, so much so "that the decisions of doctors and medical specialists are sometimes questioned as to their motives and aspirations" (Haring, 1973, p
Above all, the purpose of medical ethics is to protect and defend human dignity and patients' rights. (Elsayed & Ahmed, Medical Ethics, 2009) Medical ethics is a code that advocates that the physician keep what is best for the patient at the forefront
In addition, bioethics addresses issues of medical administration, medical economics, industrial medicine, epidemiology, legal medicine, treatment of animals, as well as environmental issues. (Steinberg, Medical Ethics, 1998) As with the practice and technology of medicine itself, medical ethics has evolved over time
Issue that Emphasize the Importance of Doing Good in Healthcare In my opinion, one of the most important reasons that healthcare professionals should concern themselves with doing as much good as possible is the increased need for justice in the healthcare system. Since World War II, the health care industry has improved with new findings in medicine and changes in individual behavior (Bingemann, 2000)
Cultural diversity refers to the "differences between people based on a shared ideology and valued set of beliefs, norms, customs, and meanings evidenced in a way of life (ANA, 1986)." Culture includes patterns of behavior acquired and transmitted symbols, forming the unique achievement of human groups, including their personification in artifacts; the vital core of culture consists of historically derived and selected ideas and particularly their attached values (Kroeber and Kluckhohn, 1952)
Significant advances in medical technology have greatly increased the estimated average life expectancy in the United States from 47.3 years in 1900 to 76.5 years in 1997 (National Vital Statistics Report, 2001)
This paper will describe why healthcare professionals should be exclusively concerned with doing as much good as possible, and how they can realize this goal by studying medical ethics. Introduction For hundreds of years, mankind has struggled with issues of life, preservation of life, old age, death and dying, and how to achieve a good death (Stanton, 2003)