Medical Ethics In The Waiting Room

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The first few weeks of school have been pretty stressful for me. I took two summer classes, however they ended over a month ago, therefore, I have had to readjust back into school mode. In addition, I am currently in the process of applying for nursing school, which adds even more on to my plate. However, now that we are in week 2 of the quarter, I seem to be getting back into the school mindset. Everything in the syllabus and the course requirements seems straightforward I have marked all the due dates out in my planner so I can stay organized and on top of all my work. I enjoyed the movie The Waiting Room much more than I thought I would this week. It was really eye opening to see the hurdles some people must overcome in order to get medical …show more content…
The principle of justice is the idea that one must treat “similar kinds of people similarly” (Pence, 2004, p. 23). Pence (2004) goes on to further explain that this principle means a physician should not turn away a patient due to their lack of insurance coverage or inability to pay for services (p. 23). I thought that this was a very interesting concept, because even though it is considered to be one of the four principles of medical ethics, it is not always followed. For example, there was a patient in the film The Waiting Room, who was turned away from Kaiser due to his lack of insurance coverage. This patient did not have insurance coverage, and paid out of his own pocket to get an appointment with a physician at Kaiser. After discovering that he had a testicular tumor, Kaiser then ran a variety of tests and scans in order to prepare for surgery, as they said that the tumor should be removed immediately. However, at the last minute, Kaiser canceled his surgery due to his lack of health insurance. Kaiser deemed that this man had a tumor that must be removed immediately, but discharged him and sent him away due to his inability to pay (Nicks, "The waiting

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