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Ethics
Biomedical Ethics
Ethics in the medical profession is a topic that has gained in complexity in the past three decades. As patients are able to get more information about medical procedures, as billing becomes more complex, as new healthcare reform takes place, nurses are forced to gain an understanding of more issues with regard to biomedical ethics. The book "Intervention and Reflection: Basic Issues in Medical Ethics" by Munson and Munson (2000) offers assistance to professionals with regard to basic ethical questions in the book's first chapter. Using the text as a starting point, this essay will define concepts central to biomedical ethics, how these concepts apply to the general public, and more importantly, for this essay, how these concepts can be seen in the book "Awakenings."
The book lists six issues -- autonomy, trust, dignity, respect, knowledge, and truth (Munson & Munson, 2000) -- that need to be defined within the construct of ethics. Autonomy speaks to the need of a patient to maintain their personhood and be involved in decisions (O'Neill, 2001). "Trust is not a response to certainty about other's future actions. On the contrary, trust is needed precisely when and because we lack certainty about others' future actions" (O'Neill, 2001). Trust in the medical profession has been assumed, but it must be gained more recently because mistakes are publicized and professionals are seen as fallible. Dignity is a difficult...
A nurse has respect for a patient not because of who they are, but because of what they are. Namely, they are a fellow human being who is in some way infirm and needs care. Knowledge is an interesting discussion that has two necessary divisions. The patent decides whether they want more knowledge of a procedure or less. It is not up to the medical professional to deny knowledge or to off-handedly push the patient to acquire knowledge. Truth describes the content of the knowledge given. It is never an ethical idea to gloss over the danger of a procedure to make a patient feel better. If they ask for knowledge, then it needs to be dispensed truthfully.
As mentioned above, people have access to an unprecedented amount of knowledge. Because of this, biomedical ethics has gained in importance and has become a very dangerous subject to breach. For many years, patients were kept in the dark and medical professionals were able to operate in more of a godlike atmosphere. Since the advent of electronic media, specifically the internet, patients can access a wide range of information regarding any condition or procedure. Patients are able to increase their autonomy and dignity because they have more knowledge. These are not concepts that the nurse maintains, but elements of the person that the nurse ethically protects.
A wonderful case study…
References
Munson, R. & Munson, M. (2000). Intervention and reflection: Basic issues in medical ethics. Ann Arbor, MI: Wadsworth.
O'Neill, O. (2001). Autonomy and trust in bioethics. The Gifford Lectures. Cambridge University, Cambridge, England.
Sacks, O. (1973). Awakenings. New York: Vintage.
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