Marguerite M., 89 years old female, who suffered from a massive myocardial infraction, was admitted into the cardiac intensive care unit in Chicago’s Memorial Hospital at 3 AM, Sunday morning. In order to identify the degree of Marguerite’s heart attack her primary physician Dr. K. ordered an angiogram. Angiogram and following treatment based on the test’s results must be administered during the first 6 hours of post infraction time period in order to effective (Fremgen 2014). Angiogram is a diagnostic test that provides accurate x-ray images of the patient’s heart and its blood vessels and allows detection of the blockages, its location and size by injection of the “contrast” dye into the catheter that is inserted into the femoral artery
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Society grants to physicians certain rights such as to prescribe drugs, perform surgeries, or any other medical intervention. Hence, the physician-patient relationship and healthcare services can be viewed as social services. Therefore, allocation of limited medical resources must take utilitarian approach (Kluge 2007). Emergency department (ED) physicians decide what kind health services and how much of it the patient will receive when admitted into ED. Therefore, emergency physician’s prudent stewardship duty is to provide quality care, diagnose and treat all patients that are admitted in a cost-effective manner. Even though ED physicians must seek the best possible outcome for the patient they should not use patient’s ability to pay, use of the resources in the past, society’s benefits, or accountability for their medical condition as the basis for allocation of finite medical resources. ED physicians should make their decision for proper use of limited resources based on criteria that include: urgency of the patient’s medical condition; probability, degree, and continuance of medical benefit to the patient; distress and cost to the patient; and cost to society (American College of Emergency Physicians 2013). Based on these concepts the ED physicians decision to use the angiography team for Sarah in order to safe her life is sound. Marguerite’s M. likelihood and degree of medical benefit from the angiogram and the duration of it were lower in comparison to Sarah’s due to her age. Studies show that patients 75 years of age and older with coronary heart disease symptoms have a greater risk of death within 30 days after admission to hospital’s emergency department in comparison to the younger patients with the same health complaints (Farrohknia, Castren, Ehrenberg, Lind, Oredsson,
Society grants to physicians certain rights such as to prescribe drugs, perform surgeries, or any other medical intervention. Hence, the physician-patient relationship and healthcare services can be viewed as social services. Therefore, allocation of limited medical resources must take utilitarian approach (Kluge 2007). Emergency department (ED) physicians decide what kind health services and how much of it the patient will receive when admitted into ED. Therefore, emergency physician’s prudent stewardship duty is to provide quality care, diagnose and treat all patients that are admitted in a cost-effective manner. Even though ED physicians must seek the best possible outcome for the patient they should not use patient’s ability to pay, use of the resources in the past, society’s benefits, or accountability for their medical condition as the basis for allocation of finite medical resources. ED physicians should make their decision for proper use of limited resources based on criteria that include: urgency of the patient’s medical condition; probability, degree, and continuance of medical benefit to the patient; distress and cost to the patient; and cost to society (American College of Emergency Physicians 2013). Based on these concepts the ED physicians decision to use the angiography team for Sarah in order to safe her life is sound. Marguerite’s M. likelihood and degree of medical benefit from the angiogram and the duration of it were lower in comparison to Sarah’s due to her age. Studies show that patients 75 years of age and older with coronary heart disease symptoms have a greater risk of death within 30 days after admission to hospital’s emergency department in comparison to the younger patients with the same health complaints (Farrohknia, Castren, Ehrenberg, Lind, Oredsson,