Ethical Dilemmas-House
Introduction
It is often difficult to make the judgment, primarily when it involves harming one side to let the other hand live. People have come across such situations in many areas. When it comes to matters between life and death, making such judgments is critical, yet very challenging. It involves emotions, pain, and the extreme dilemma of making a decision knowing that it must harm one to get the benefits of the choice. Medical practitioners have come across difficult times, especially in making such decisions. They may need to test different medicines on two individuals to find out one cure, and one that may result in death. The curing drug in such a situation may be needed to support a more significant population. Doctors, knowing that it is better to help the larger group of people, will choose to sacrifice one individual to save the rest. In extreme situations, these decisions may involve infants and newly born, whose parents’ only wish is to see them become healthy. Such conditions demand a lot of strength in medical practitioners as far as making the critical decision is concerned. Ethical dilemmas are common in the healthcare industry, giving practitioners difficult times in making essential decisions.
Ethical Dilemma
Ethical dilemmas are common in the healthcare industries, and in some situations, it is inevitable to escape them. One notable ethical dilemma in the healthcare industry occurs when House decides to give two different babies two different medications, knowing that one of them will die and the other live. Here, the doctor needs to save many children and thus decides to use two of them as control tests. The dilemma clashes with tremendous courage, wisdom, honesty, and the need to save more people. Theorists have proposed several theories to illustrate such difficulties and to show the best ways to make decisions during such moments. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
Ethical Theory
The ethical theory of utilitarianism is fundamental when it comes to a situation where there is a need to sacrifice something to save more. According to Sidgwick (2019), the utilitarian theory of ethics centers on achieving the best for the more significant number. A utilitarian weighs out options to perform distinct actions. Their choices have to find out those who will benefit and those who will be harmed. However, the utilitarian chooses a move that would harm the least and benefit most people involved. For the selected dilemma, the theory will help the utilitarian to decide whether to harm one child and save many or let all of them suffer. The utilitarian has to consider different stakeholders to make the best judgments.
Stakeholders
Stakeholders are key players, many ethical dilemmas that influence the choices made either directly or indirectly. The current predicament has three key stakeholders, namely, the medical practitioners, parents, and the management of the healthcare facility. One of the parents has to lose a child for the rest of the parents to have their children treated. Doctors here, face significant ethical dilemmas from throughout the process. They constitute the actors of the ethical dilemmas.
Ethical Actors
Cameron is the main moral actor in this scenario and has the most trying moments as far as decision making is concerned. She faces the dilemma of telling the parents of the two children that one of the children must die to save the rest. In such an awkward situation, the ethical dilemma forces her to lie, telling the parents that their children will be okay. It seems the right decision, but it is not ethical. It is essential to take control of emotions, especially when making such a critical decision. There is, therefore, a need to rationalize her decision basing on experiences to avoid messing up stakeholders.
Rationalizations
It is rational to make fast decisions to save many, even if it will involve killing one. That is only if there are no other options for the situation. However, the criteria for choosing the babies for the experiment are a bit challenging in this dilemma. Moreover, it is necessary always to tell the truth. It is better to keep quiet than to begin discussing a lie. Fallacies are there to guide individuals during such trying moments.
Fallacies
The trolley dilemma is one of the errors that apply to this scenario. According to the mistake, it is permissible to kill one to save many. Though, Thompson in this theory explains that moral theories such a utilitarianism, which judge the permissibility of an action basing solely on its consequence, are not sufficient to explain why some effects that cause killings are permissible while others are not.
Conclusion
Ethical dilemmas may inevitably demand people to make decisions that seem incredibly controversial. Healthcare practitioners may face significant ethical dilemmas, and as per the utilitarian theory, they are permitted to kill one to save a more substantial number of individuals. However, it is difficult to tell stakeholders the truth about the decision made from the ethical dilemmas. Showing them a lie is far worse. It is, therefore, essential to make fast decisions that provide the most desirable outcomes, especially when it involves the lives and death of human beings. One needs to apply proper fallacies.