Ethics Around the Globe: Project for Health Care students
Review the scenario below. Throughout the course, you will be referring to this scenario, coming up with an appropriate solution, and reflecting on your thinking process.
Your 82-year-old patient is in kidney failure and requires hemodialysis but this sort of medical intervention goes against her religious beliefs. Without this treatment she will certainly die. With the treatment she can expect to live a relatively normal life for years to come. She has no other diseases or conditions.
Part 1:
In such serious situations it is important to have a good foundation for your perspective. Consider the patient's decision to refuse the treatment and respond to the following:
1. Define the problem using your own words.
2. What do you think someone following Kant's moral perspective would say about the patient's decision?
3. How do you feel about this patient's decision? Should patients have the right to refuse reasonable treatment?
Your assignment should be 1-2 pages and in APA format.
Part 2:
In the first part of this project you defined the problem outlined in the scenario. Now you will consider possible solutions based on different ethical perspectives.
1. What would someone do from the perspective of Aristotle's virtue based ethics? Explain why.
2. What would someone do from the Buddhist ethical perspective? Explain why.
3. What would you do in this situation? Why?
Your assignment should be 1-2 pages in APA format.
Part 3:
In providing healthcare to individuals you will encounter many different perspectives and some you will disagree with. Specifically, you will encounter patients and their family members who will have different opinions about what they should to for their own or a loved one's wellbeing.
1. Consider the idea of pluralism. How would you balance your own belief in what was good for the patient with his or her own wishes?
2. Reflect on your responses in the previous parts of this project and the other theories covered in this course. Of all of the theories covered in the course which one most closely matches your own ethical perspective on this issue? Explain your stance.
3. Now, consider a new patient. This patient is being treated for a life threatening illness. The patient's family wishes that treatment be stopped. But, you feel that the patient has a chance of recovery if treatment continues. What would you do? Use the theory you chose in response to the previous question to respond/frame your response to this question.
Your responses to these questions should total 3-4 pages and be in APA format.