Deontological Approach In Medical Ethics

The focus of this paper is on how to assign limited, life-saving treatments to a surplus of people in need. Sadly, there are many individuals who are currently suffering from diseases that are treatable. Although there are treatments for their diseases, they are often in limited supply; creating an important ethical dilemma which must be considered. While deciding who should receive the treatments may seem easy on the surface, two major ethical questions must be answered first: who should be making the decision, and what should that decision be based on? This paper will take the stance that physicians and analytical philosophies are the most appropriate answer to these questions. Support will be drawn by elaborating on counter arguments that …show more content…
In a broad sense, teleological views represent a primarily utilitarian approach to problems while deontological views offer a more intrinsic approach (Candee & Puka, 1984, p. 61). For the utilitarian approach, as described in the philosophies of Jeremy Bentham, actions must be based off of whatever will create the greatest amount of “happiness,” defined as the presence of pleasure or the absence of pain (Mautner, n.d.). This approach would attribute values to every outcome of giving patients medications. These values would attempt to quantify the amount of pleasure that would come from each outcome. In doing so, a list can be made to determine which patients would be most worth saving. While this creates a list of who most deserves the medications, a major setback is encountered in deciding what to place value in. This is because numerous viewpoints on how to quantify pleasure must be narrowed down to just a handful of opinions for practical purposes (Candee & Puka, 1984, p. 63). A specific way the utilitarianism philosophy can be applied in the context of drug shortages is to a patient’s economic status. If it is determined that the most important aspect to pleasure is economic status, a richer patient’s ability to pay could potentially make them more useful than other less fortunate patients. Therefore, based on the utilitarian approach, it may be reasonably determined that the rich …show more content…
Although this paper took the side of doctors making a decision based on an analytical approach, there has never been, and may never be, an easy answer to either issue. So long as there are drug shortages in the world, like that of cytarabine, there will always be debates as to how the limited drugs are best rationed. While everyone holds their own opinions and interpretations on the different aspects of medical ethics, it continues to become increasingly important to discuss some of the biggest issues facing public health today. Lives depend on