Ms. Northern: Informed Consent and Confidentiality
Healthcare professionals face moral and ethical dilemmas on a daily basis. While some solutions to these dilemmas may be black or white, this is not always the case. In the following situation, a decision had to be made in regards to whether or not an elderly woman’s feet should be surgically removed against her will in order to save her from gangrene. It will be argued in this paper that any and all decisions regarding Mary Northern’s body and overall well-being should be left to her to decide autonomously. The first question that needs to be addressed is whether Mrs. Northern had the capacity to withhold her informed consent. The conditions for informed consent as outlined by Hersch …show more content…
Northern had no family or friends which inevitably led to her severe spread of gangrene. But living in unsatisfactory conditions does not exactly indicate that she had no family members. If the physician discovered that she had an estranged son and believed that he would be able to convince her to go through with the surgery, would it be ethical to contact him, against Mrs. Northern’s will? According to Safken and Frewer, confidentiality is important in building and maintaining the physician-patient relationship (Kuhse et al., 2016, p. 603). This relationship allows the patient to openly discuss any medically related symptoms with the physician, allowing doctors to ensure that they are selecting the proper treatment plan for the patient. Confidentiality is also about the physician keeping the patient’s medical history a secret (Kuhse et al., 2016, p 603). This is important in keeping the patient’s trust not only in said physician, but also in healthcare workers as a whole. Confidentiality essentially keeps the system in check. Therefore, Safken and Frewer would argue against disclosing confidential health conditions to Mrs. Northern’s estranged son on the grounds of respecting her personal information and right to …show more content…
Utilitarianism is the theory that the ethical decision is the one that creates the most happiness (Mill, 2001, p. 16). It falls under the overarching consequentialist theory that the ethical decision is the one that brings about the best consequences. Mill argues that utilitarianism is not solely about causing the greatest number of people to experience happiness, but that there is a weight put on different types and sources of happiness. This weight can be used to measure happiness on a scale, therefore, utilitarianism is about creating the highest amount of happiness rather than the highest number of happy people (Mill, 2001, p. 17). In other words, it focuses on quality over quantity. If the physician in Mrs. Northern’s case was a utilitarian, he should act in the manner that would bring about the highest quality of happiness. The main point that he would need to consider is whether Mrs. Northern’s wish to attempt recovery without treatment would make her happier than her son who may or may not wish to see his mother live and therefore receive the surgery. According to Mill, the only way for the physician to truly weigh both levels of happiness would be if he had personally experienced both situations (Mill, 2001, p. 17). However, in this case, it might suffice that the physician simply speak to both mother and son separately to determine what their true desires are and
Healthcare professionals face moral and ethical dilemmas on a daily basis. While some solutions to these dilemmas may be black or white, this is not always the case. In the following situation, a decision had to be made in regards to whether or not an elderly woman’s feet should be surgically removed against her will in order to save her from gangrene. It will be argued in this paper that any and all decisions regarding Mary Northern’s body and overall well-being should be left to her to decide autonomously. The first question that needs to be addressed is whether Mrs. Northern had the capacity to withhold her informed consent. The conditions for informed consent as outlined by Hersch …show more content…
Northern had no family or friends which inevitably led to her severe spread of gangrene. But living in unsatisfactory conditions does not exactly indicate that she had no family members. If the physician discovered that she had an estranged son and believed that he would be able to convince her to go through with the surgery, would it be ethical to contact him, against Mrs. Northern’s will? According to Safken and Frewer, confidentiality is important in building and maintaining the physician-patient relationship (Kuhse et al., 2016, p. 603). This relationship allows the patient to openly discuss any medically related symptoms with the physician, allowing doctors to ensure that they are selecting the proper treatment plan for the patient. Confidentiality is also about the physician keeping the patient’s medical history a secret (Kuhse et al., 2016, p 603). This is important in keeping the patient’s trust not only in said physician, but also in healthcare workers as a whole. Confidentiality essentially keeps the system in check. Therefore, Safken and Frewer would argue against disclosing confidential health conditions to Mrs. Northern’s estranged son on the grounds of respecting her personal information and right to …show more content…
Utilitarianism is the theory that the ethical decision is the one that creates the most happiness (Mill, 2001, p. 16). It falls under the overarching consequentialist theory that the ethical decision is the one that brings about the best consequences. Mill argues that utilitarianism is not solely about causing the greatest number of people to experience happiness, but that there is a weight put on different types and sources of happiness. This weight can be used to measure happiness on a scale, therefore, utilitarianism is about creating the highest amount of happiness rather than the highest number of happy people (Mill, 2001, p. 17). In other words, it focuses on quality over quantity. If the physician in Mrs. Northern’s case was a utilitarian, he should act in the manner that would bring about the highest quality of happiness. The main point that he would need to consider is whether Mrs. Northern’s wish to attempt recovery without treatment would make her happier than her son who may or may not wish to see his mother live and therefore receive the surgery. According to Mill, the only way for the physician to truly weigh both levels of happiness would be if he had personally experienced both situations (Mill, 2001, p. 17). However, in this case, it might suffice that the physician simply speak to both mother and son separately to determine what their true desires are and