Identify a current issue in health care ethics that you consider urgent. This may be an issue at the national level, in your own community, or anywhere in between. You may focus on something you have read about or know from firsthand experience as a health care professional or consumer.
Instructions
Write an analysis of a selected ethical problem in health care. You must respond to each of the following criteria. You may choose to respond to any or all of the prompts below each criterion.
Effectively summarize ethical issues surrounding a health care problem.
What is the problem?
Which communities and populations does it affect?
What are the ethical issues raised by the problem?
Demonstrate sound ethical thinking in applying ethical principles and moral theories to a specific problem.
What are the reasons you consider it the most important (or among the most important problems)?
What is the cause or causes of this problem? Why does it persist?
Apply ethical theories and principles to the selected ethical problem.
Which ethical principles (and perhaps moral theories) are most relevant to understanding this problem as an ethical issue?
Analyze the ethical problem from the perspectives of various stakeholders.
Who are the key stakeholders regarding this problem: the affected health care consumers (patients or clients) and health care professionals (such as doctors, nurses, administrators)?
Are there other stakeholders, such as community or government groups? Are there any institutional policies or legal or regulatory considerations that affect the problem?
Is there a conflict of interest at the heart of this problem? If so, what is the conflict and who are the stakeholders with competing interests?
Assess the policy, legal, and regulatory components to the ethical problem.
Which communities or regions does it affect most? Is this a localized problem or a national problem?
What legal and regulatory issues have an influence on this problem?
Which institutional policies affect this problem?
Develop a solution to the ethical problem based on ethical theories and principles.
What is the best solution to this problem and why? What are the best resources for solving this problem? How did you make this determination?