Ethics and Measles

Ethics and Measles

Working as a doctor or as a health care provider is highly rewarding and at the same time very challenging. Most medical procedures have both merits and demerits, and therefore, both the health care provider and the patient have their own input (Numminen, 2015). Ethics in the health care sector is critical because ethics creates a healthy relationship between the health care provider and the patient. Ethics in health care allows the patients to exercise their right in controlling any type of medication over their bodies. In addition, ethics principles dictate that the health care providers should do all what they can to help patients under all circumstances. Health care providers should apply ethics to solve ethical dilemma that is currently existing about the effects of measles vaccination to the children.

The case study under discussion involves Piper Bank who is a health care provider in a medical clinic serving local low-income people in the society. Piper Bank is the clinic director, and she loves her job of providing health care services to the patients. In the summer, there is an outbreak of measles in the city. Most parents in the city have been influenced by the measles anti-vaccine activists not to vaccinate their children. Out of the 78 cases reported cases, 73 children affected by the measles outbreak are unvaccinated. Even with all these statistics, the activists against the vaccination of measles still continue to mislead the community by saying that the outbreak is a strategy by the government to make the children vaccinated. Piper Bank faces a lot of resistance from the activists in the process of creating awareness about the need of vaccinating children against measles. Piper Bank reaches a point where she almost gives up on the matter, but she is encouraged by religious leaders and continues to administer measles vaccines. However, Piper Bank has a big problem to solve about how to counter the information spread by the anti-vaccination activists. Also, Piper Bank has to apply ethics in responding to the parents who don’t want to vaccinate their children.

Understanding the process of ethical decision making and the factors influencing the process will be necessary for piper Bank to solve the ethical dilemma about measles vaccination in the city. Ethical decision making involves three components, which include moral awareness, moral judgment, and moral intention (Schwartz, 2016). Ethical decision making is commonly used in the medical profession because health care providers have to solve ethical dilemmas throughout their career. Ethical decision making is critical in the health care sector because it helps to solve most of the problems arising in society. Ethical dilemma is commonly experienced in the health care sector. An ethical dilemma is a situation where individuals have to compete upon moral standards to ensure that the best suitable decision is applied. Individual factors determine how an individual can arrive at the most suitable solution for an ethical dilemma. The moral capacity of an individual defines how an individual can overcome moral temptations to achieve at the proper solution of an ethical dilemma (Lehnert, 2015). Moral sensitivity is the first step in the process of ethical decision making. Moral awareness is the ability of an individual to realize that they are faced by an ethical dilemma, which requires a solution that can affect the interests of other people. Once an individual has realized the existence of an ethical dilemma, then the individual has potential solutions, and therefore, the process of ethical decision making starts. Moral judgment is the real process of decision making where an individual chooses one suitable solution for the problem from a group of several alternatives. The moral intention is the motivation to act according to individual’s moral values, which enables an individual to choose one solution from other many alternative solutions. The ethical decision-making process is applied to solve the ethical dilemma been experienced by Piper Bank in the case study about measles vaccination.

The problem of the measles vaccination, in this case, is caused by the anti-vaccination activists who are misleading the native citizens. Most of the parents accept the information from the anti-vaccination activists that they should not vaccinate their children against measles because of the effects of the vaccine on their children. Here, an ethical dilemma arises whereby parents are reluctant to vaccinate their children in spite of the measles outbreak. In the case study, anti-vaccination uses communication ineffectively by passing false information to the citizens that measles outbreak is a strategy of the government to make parents avail their children for vaccination. The anti-activists used false information to satisfy their own goals. The health care providers and the religious leaders effectively communicate with one another where they eventually arrive at an agreement to continue administering the measles vaccine. Therefore, effective use of communication is necessary for solving an ethical dilemma.

The first step of solving the ethical dilemma in the case study is the ability of Piper Bank to acknowledge that the reluctance of parents to vaccinate their children is an ethical dilemma, which requires a moral solution. After being aware of the ethical dilemma, Piper Bank will then have several solutions to solve the problem. Piper Bank and the other health providers should effectively communicate to the parents on the dangers of measles outbreak and the need to vaccinate their children against the disease. Effective communication between the health care providers and the parents will solve the problem because parents will see the importance of vaccinating their children against measles. Other solutions can be used but communicating directly to the parents will be the best solution because by actively involving the parents will ensure that all the principles of ethics are obeyed. The process of ethical decision making is useful in solving any ethical dilemmas, which arises in our daily lives.

In conclusion, ethics are very important in the health care sector, and they should be observed to ensure that patients receive quality health care services. Ethics in health care sector ensures that the rights of patients are obeyed. Recognizing the steps involved in ethical decision making helps health care providers to come up with suitable solutions for ethical dilemmas arising in the health care sector. Also, understanding the characteristics of a moral issue influences the decision-making process, where the involved are allowed to search for important information that will help in arriving at the most suitable solution for a particular ethical dilemma. Tools of moral reasoning should be incorporated with the steps of ethical decision making to solve the ethical dilemmas arising in the health care sector.