Ethics Committees and Distributive Justice  

Oleh:

Jecker, Nancy S.

Jenis: Article from Books - E-Book
Dalam koleksi: Guidance for Healthcare Ethics Committees, page 122-129.
Topik: Role of Providers; Role of Hospital Ethics Committees
Fulltext: Ethics Committees and Distributive Justice.pdf (147.74KB)

Isi artikel

This case raises a number of complex ethical questions for the hospital ethics committee (HEC). When patients are unable to comply with best medical advice because they simply cannot aford the treatments prescribed, what should physicians do? To what extent are health professionals responsible for knowing about their patients’ social and economic circumstances before prescribing a treatment plan? Does the patient have a responsibility to share such information? Is a hospital, which may be inundated with requests for inancial assistance from the community it serves, obligated to help each and every patient? In the case of Mr. Nguyen, although the cost of providing needed wound dressing may seem minimal, what if many surgical patients served by the hospital need this kind of help? Are we, as a society, responsible for helping Mr. Nguyen and others like him, to obtain needed healthcare? hese are clearly challenging questions, and it is far from clear how the ethics committee should respond. Mr. Nguyen’s case may force the ethics committee to tread on unfamiliar ground by raising the broader question of what the HEC role should be in helping the needy and by establishing a right to healthcare within the institution. While it is easy to say that HECs should serve as advocates for patients and promote their best interests, it is more dificult to determine what the HEC’s responsibility is in addressing larger justice issues. In this chapter, I propose that much is to be gained by expanding, rather than restricting, the scope of the ethics committee’s response. More expansive thinking not only enables us to map this case in a larger moral domain, it also enhances our understanding of the speciic values and principles at stake. Cases like that of Mr. Nguyen force the committee to consider the just distribution of healthcare services, as well as the scope and limits of the hospital’s and the providers’ responsibility to Mr. Nguyen.

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