Medical Ethics

Medical Ethics

Medical ethic is the act of examining a given medical problem and use-values, logics and facts to make decisions regarding the best course of action.  Some difficulty may be straight forward, for example, deciding what is right from what is wrong. Other issues may be involved, such as determining rights.  Sometimes a patient opinion may differ from that of the medical team (Laurie & Dove, 2019).  It becomes challenging to decide on what is to be done if both parties maintain their grounds. It can take long periods and a lot of consultations to make decisions.

AC is a minor diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma and prefers to use the Hoxsey treatment. This is a method that was disapproved by the United States Food and drug administration in 1956. The medical team feels that he should go through the second round of chemotherapy. The success rate of three chemotherapies is 90 per cent. The main ethical question is choosing between second chemotherapy or Hoxsey treatment. Stakeholders that are involved in this case are three: AC, who is a 16-year-old male and Hodgkin’s lymphoma patient, the medical team that was treating him and finally, AC’s family. AC’s family support his decision to seek Hoxsey treatment even though they learnt it from the resolution, and it is disapproved.

As mentioned above, AC and his family learnt about Hoxsey treatment from the internet. There is no member of AC’s family that has been reported to have a background of medicine or even nursing. Taking it in mind that AC is a minor and may be biased to make decisions of his own, he needs guidance. On the other hand, in the past people who had gone through chemotherapy three times, 90 per cent of the cases has been success; therefore, there is 90 per cent probability that AC case will end up as a success. According to the principle of respect of autonomy, patient’s decisions must be respected. However, the patient must be well informed about the possible outcome and their consequences. The decisions that AC takes must be respected since he is the patient. The medical team cannot ignore AC, and his family wish to use Hoxsey treatment even though chemotherapy is more promising. The principle of beneficence also applies in this case. Health care specialist should have a duty to prevent the patient from any form of harm. They should also take steps to words that prevent damage from occurring to the patients. Medical workers must make sure that AC does not get harmed. Hoxsey treatment of tumours was condemned by the United States Food and drug administration in I956, which is evidence enough that it has the potential to harm. Furthermore, chemotherapy is very promising, and hence health workers have the duty of helping AC make the right decision.

In AC’s case, there are two conflicting principals. The first principle is respect of autonomy: AC has the right to make significant decisions regarding his treatment procedure. According to this principle, the medical team needs only to inform him about the possible outcome and the probability of the issues occurring where applicable. The second principle is the principle of beneficence: It is the duty of health care expert to benefit a patient,  including preventing and removing the occurrence of harm to the patient. According to the fact that the method of treatment that AC is choosing was condemned by the United States Food and drug administration society, the probability is high that it might cause harm to him. Secondly, the method being proposed by medical doctors is highly competent based on past cases. The AC decision is not the one that the medical team can recommend.

In my opinion, AC should take the chemotherapy option.  Ethical reason of taking chemotherapy option us that that is the method that will give back the best results with little side effects.  In future, a policy should be developed that will five medical teams some power over the patients. Patients do not have any medical background and may not be able to recognize instances where they are exposing themselves to danger. The side effects that AC may suffer as a result of Hoxsey treatment may be more than being bald, feverish, weak and nauseous.

AC’s case indicates that sometimes health workers are faced with ethical dilemmas in the line of their work. Their motivations to help patients and at the same time, protect the patient interest may force them to make tough decisions. Ethical principles help guide choices that health professionals make. Problems arise in cases where two principals are antagonistic, that is why I have recommended that in future policies should be adjusted to give more weight on the medical tea recommendations. They know to compare the outcome of two situations and advise accordingly. Furthermore, they always intend to help the patient achieve good health.