This I have learned

1. Autonomy, truth-telling, and confidentiality

Personal autonomy is widely valued as recognition of its vulnerability within the healthcare
system led to the inclusion of respect for autonomy as a key concern in medical ethics. The
principle of respect for autonomy is usually associated with allowing or enabling patients to
make their own decisions about which health care interventions they will or will not receive. As a
whole, a strong focus on decision situations is problematic, especially when combined with a
tendency to stress the importance of patients’ independence in choosing. Because of this it
distracts attention from other important aspects of and challenges to autonomy in health care.
The understanding of autonomy and its importance attempt to explain both the positive and
negative implications of social relationships for an individual's autonomy. However, it is known
that many healthcare practices can affect autonomy by virtue of their effects not only on
patient’s treatment preferences and choices but also on their self-identities and capabilities for
autonomy. It is important to understand a person’s independence and facilitate different
distinctions between forms of clinical communication that support and that undermine patient’s
autonomy. These understandings support the importance of the value of good
patient-professional relationships and can enrich the respect for autonomy.

2. Research ethics and informed consent

Voluntary informed consent means that the person involved should have legal capacity to give
consent; should be able to exercise their free power of choice, without the intervention of any
element of force, fraud, or other ulterior form of constraints and should have sufficient
knowledge and comprehension of the elements of the subject matter involved as to enable them
to make an educated and enlightened decision. This latter element requires that before the
acceptance of a decision by the participant should be educated about the nature, duration, and
purpose of the experiment as well as the method and means by which it is to be conducted.
This includes all inconveniences and hazards that are to be expected and the effects upon the
health of the person which may possibly come from their participation in the experiments.

3. Genetic control

Genes encode proteins and proteins dictate cell function, meaning that the thousands of genes
expressed in a particular cell determine what that cell can do. It is because of this that each step
in the flow of information from DNA, which is the cause of genetic diseases that are passed
down should the mother give birth. This, in turn, is the driving force when people are considering
to have children while they also must take into account the possibility of their offspring having
these same genetic diseases. On the synthetic side of this balance, control of these processes
plays a critical role in determining what proteins are present in a cell and in what amounts as
well as determining if the potential mother should pass along both her and the fathers genes
with the potential of their child suffering later in life.
4. Reproductive control

Women and girls that are marginalized, those with disabilities, those of low income, those
engaged in sex work or who use drugs, and those living with HIV are most at risk of having their
reproductive rights infringed upon. Human rights organizations need to be engaged in efforts to
protect women’s reproductive rights and empower women and girls so they can be their own
best advocates. There are still so many places in the world where women do not have the right
to make decisions when it comes to their reproductive health. Instead, those in power decide
when a woman should or should not have children as she has no control over the path her life
will take. Everyone except the woman herself is able to decide what is in her best interest as it is
unfairly decided that she either is too young, too irresponsible, too incompetent, or too poor to
decide whether to end a pregnancy or have a child. When women control their reproductive
destiny it helps dismantle the idea that their gender exists only to care for others and in turn,
women are given the prerogative to lead their lives as they wish. This can include going to
school, pursuing a career, staying at home, raising a family, or even not having children or to
have a number of their choosing. However, this can only happen when reproductive rights are
acknowledged as human rights and are not sidelined to the margins of the movement.

5. Abortion

Abortion is an important element of women's rights because women are more affected by the
abortion debate than men, both individually (if they are considering an abortion) and as a
gender. Pregnancy has an enormous effect on the woman involved. A pregnancy to a woman is
perhaps one of the most determinative aspects of her life. It disrupts her body. It disrupts her
education. It disrupts her employment. And it often disrupts her entire family life. Many people
regard the right to control one's own body as a key moral right. If women are not allowed to
abort an unwanted fetus they are deprived of this right. The women's liberation movement sees
abortion rights as vital for gender equality. They say that if a woman is not allowed to have an
abortion she is not only forced to continue the pregnancy to birth but also expected by society to
support and look after the resulting child for many years to come (unless she can get someone
else to do so).

6. Treating or terminating impaired infants

The treatment of infants who are by medical standards impaired is seen as an ethical issue by
many people. It should be taken into account both the good and bad of treating babies who are
considered to be impaired, the pros of beginning or continuing care of impaired babies, and the
cons of treating infants considered impaired. Whether it’s medical professionals, family
members, friends and educators, everyone has a different opinion on the implications and
meaning of caring for and interacting with mentally and or physically handicapped individuals.
The treatment of impaired infants varies greatly from hospital to hospital and diagnosis to
diagnosis. Every person, whether they are two days or twenty-two years old, deserve the
chance at a future. It should be remembered that disabilities are a normal part of human
experience and people with disabilities are more like everybody else than most would believe
and it is crucial that we as a society unlearn the idea that people with different abilities belong in
different places.

7. Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide

People don’t just die from a terminal illness, they live with it, along with their family members
and doctors. Granting the right to seek assisted suicide for those who want it will change how
people live with terminal illness and how families will cope with their deaths and how doctors will
administer care. Physician-assisted suicide, in which a doctor prescribes a lethal dose of
medication to a patient upon their request so that they may end their life; as well as voluntary
active euthanasia, in which a doctor directly administers lethal drugs to the patient, are morally
permissible and should be legalized. Voluntary euthanasia is performed at the request of the
patient whereas involuntary euthanasia describes a situation in which euthanasia is performed
without the patient’s request. Non-voluntary euthanasia relates to a situation in which
euthanasia is performed when the patient is incapable of consenting Euthanasia is further
categorized as active and passive whereas active euthanasia refers to the deliberate act,
usually through the intentional administration of lethal drugs to end a patient’s life. Passive
euthanasia is used to describe the deliberate withholding or withdrawal of life-prolonging
medical treatment resulting in the patient’s death. Passive euthanasia is accepted as morally
permissible by much of the population because many see this as leaving the death of the
patient to the natural course of life, and it is because of this passive euthanasia has become an
established part of medical practice and is relatively uncontroversial.

8. Organ transplants, scarce medical resources

The ethics of allocating human organs for transplantation is a specific application of ethical
situations in correlation with social practices as the principles involved are essentially the same
as those that apply to other areas of human conduct. Because of this they reflect the
conclusions of the public which have examined and are educated on the general principles of
ethics. The basic moral principles provide a general ethical guideline for local, regional, and
national policy decisions when it is related to the issue of organ transplants, including the
formulas used in such situations. However, they are neither meant to describe precisely what
the current norms are, nor are they meant to dictate precise formulas for reforming current
practices. As a result, they do not necessarily reflect the personal ethical positions of individual
people. As a whole these principles and guidelines are meant to represent our
recommendations for societal norms that are optimal for matters of public policy in which
individuals hold a variety of conflicting, positions on organ transplantation.

9. Distributing health care

Distributed healthcare is vital to society as it is the concept of providing decentralized care

services, like monitoring vital signs and diagnostic tests, as well as moving these services closer
to the person in need. This way a healthcare system can help to keep people healthy, and in
their own homes, by providing the right care and support at the right time. Current home-based
healthcare provides greater convenience and satisfaction for patients; this is especially true for
older people and those who struggle with mobility. As a result, programs that exist focus on
patients suffering from chronic illness as well as interdisciplinary teams that visit homes to
perform diagnostics and encourage consent with treatment protocols. The aim with these
programs and type of healthcare is to monitor the patient and identify any worsening in their
condition, after which they can proactively manage the patient to prevent any hospitalizations.
As a whole being within a secure and shared healthcare system allows for timely, safe and
informed decision making to occur, for and with the patient.

10. Women and medicine

One of the most interesting fields where gender discrimination occurs is within healthcare.
Unlike other fields where one gender is clearly given advantage over the other, healthcare
becomes more blurry as both males and females are faced with unfair stereotypes and
expectations. While certain occupations still clearly prefer one gender over the other, the
discrimination that is faced is relatively equal between the two genders. Among doctors, women
have unfortunately faced discrimination and trouble even entering the field, while within the field
of nursing though, men have been met with stereotypes and discrimination from both coworkers
and patients. This also causes problems when it comes to clinical studies as historically women
were excluded, making it so that when new medications were introduced, the effect that it would
have on women was unknown and dangerous. And while the field of medicine is progressing as
the number of female doctors and male nurses has steadily increased, there still seems to be a
lot of gender discrepancy in these two career paths.

11. Healthcare for minorities

The increasing diversity of this nation brings opportunities and challenges for healthcare
providers, healthcare systems, and policymakers to create and deliver culturally competent
services. Cultural competence is defined as the ability of providers and organizations to
effectively deliver health care services that meet the social, cultural, and linguistic needs of
patients. A culturally competent health care system can help improve the outcome of health and
quality of care as well as contributing to the elimination of racial and ethnic health disparities.
The actions that should be taken in order to move the healthcare system towards these goals
include providing proper training on cultural competence and cross-cultural issues to health
professionals as well as creating policies that reduce administrative and linguistic barriers to
patient care. Individual values, beliefs, and behaviors about health and well-being are shaped
by various factors such as race, ethnicity, nationality, language, gender, physical and mental
ability, sexual orientation, and occupation. The ultimate goal of culturally competent health care
services is to provide the highest quality of care to every patient, regardless of race, ethnicity,
cultural background, English proficiency or literacy.

12. Those with AIDS/HIV

Increasing awareness of stigma, discrimination, and mental factors involved with the HIV
pandemic can lead to a decrease in the transmission of HIV as well as early diagnosis and
treatment. Compassionate medical and psychiatric care can diminish suffering for those at risk
for, infected with, or affected by HIV. Some people who are recently diagnosed may find it hard
to take that first step to HIV treatment, but by getting linked to HIV medical care early, starting
treatment with HIV medication (called antiretroviral therapy or ART), maintaining medication,
and staying in care, people with HIV can keep the virus under control, and prevent their HIV
infection from progressing to AIDS. HIV treatment is recommended for all people with HIV and
should be started as soon as possible after diagnosis, this is why it is important to encourage
those with HIV to see a doctor and start HIV treatment as soon as possible. If they do not have
an HIV care provider finding one can be a relatively easy process as there are programs that
can provide HIV medical care or help with paying for HIV medications.