PHI FPX 3200 Assessment 5 Ethics and Professional Codes

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Tonya’s Case: Ethics and Professional Codes

The doctors proposed to take Tonya off life support systems since she had no chance to come around, but her parents said that she was still alive because her body was warm and her heart was beating. PHI FPX 3200 Assessment 5 Hospital managers and the medical ethicists stated that Tonya’s therapy was pointless and not for her benefit. This results in this assessment being centered on the ethical and moral questions presented by end-of-life situations.

PHI FPX 3200 Assessment 5 Ethical Principles and Moral Theories

The principles applied here are autonomy, patient benevolence, non-maleficence intentions, and justice. Self-determination is the opportunity of the patient to choose how he or she is going to be treated. Tonya’s parents make decisions for her as they are her legal representatives, and she cannot make decisions for herself in this case. However, an aspect of the latest parental authority does not allow them the power to demand repetitive or destructive treatment. It is an exam partnership. Healthcare professionals must act with goodwill so that they act in the best interests of the patient. The physicians have also stated that as Tonya’s condition won’t improve and further treatments will exacerbate her condition, she will not benefit if she continues with the current form of therapy. That is to withdraw the life support that Tonya is on, though it would mean that she will die. Members of the health profession should not intend to harm and should not cause harm.

Further treatment in this case would be counterproductive because it would increase Tonya’s suffering and would not benefit her in any way. Justice is relevant in managing the delivery of PHI FPX 3200 Assessment 5 healthcare because healthcare decisions should be made in a fair and equal manner. In this case, the medical decision is purely Medical and does not in any way hinge on the family’s fiscal prowess (Nandifa et al., 2020).

Moral Theory for the Case

Another ethical theory that can be used to solve Tonya’s case is Utilitarianism, which is a moral theory that seeks to attain the most significant level of utility or happiness in a society while doing the least harm. That is, an activity is ethical if the most number of people are haploid or pleased by what has been done. In the case of Tonya, the practical approach will involve the likely consequences that follow from taking her off the support system compared to the consequences of keeping her on it. The meaning of the word ‘brain dead’ is limited to the lack of possibility of Tonya’s improvement in the state in which she is now; the physicians and the hospital management decided that Tonya should not be artificially forced to continue her mere existence using the ventilator and other treatments (Marseille & Kahn, 2019).

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In this case, the PHI FPX 3200 Assessment 5 practical means would involve considering each option’s consequence. Tonya’s family would incur a lot of mental and financial burden if she were to be kept on life support permanently, and this would occupy necessary healthcare resources that could be used to benefit other individuals. Also, Tonya could not experience happiness or joy in this situation (Häyry, 2020). On the other hand, removing Tonya’s life support will make us kill her instantly, and this will provoke the family and close friends to a lot of suffering and sorrow. However, it would also end further sensations of pain or suffering for Tonya that, in turn, could be seen as non-malefic and free up the doctor’s time that might be spent treating other patients.

Finally, using the practical approach, it would be fitting to pull the plug on Tonya’s life support mechanism since that would deny most people the least amount of happiness or pleasure. It would also save on medical resources and save Tonya from more suffering. Although it might not be an easy decision, it would fit the Utilitarian model (Vearrier, 2021).

Application of Professional Code of Ethics

Legal frameworks that spell out standards of behavior, with regard to the relationship that healthcare givers bear with their patients, are the building blocks of the medical profession. The Code of Medical Ethics of the American Medical Association may be used in this situation. One of the parts of the universal code is the principle of non-maleficence, which claims that “a physician must first not harm. Paternalism, which is an exceptional patient autonomy that gives patients the freedom to choose their treatment, is another essential value (Mula, 2020). Tonya is still unable to make choices by herself, and her surrogate decision-maker is Tonya’s parents, who must always act in the patient’s best interest. The prognosis that the medical staff has given to Tonya is that she will not benefit from continuing with her treatment.

PHI FPX 3200 Assessment 5 Health Professional

Therefore, they recommend that they pull off Tonya’s life support. The principle of beneficence, which is a requirement that the health professional act in his or her patient’s best interest, is also applicable. The medical staff has opined that Tonya cannot be treated anymore since it is going to aggravate her pain. The best action is to pull the plug on her life support (Ebbs et al., 2020). The decision of the medical staff to pull the plug on Tonya may be said to be general to professional ethics rules since it is anchored on benevolence, goodwill, and non-maleficence. The medical staff is then charged with the duty of exercising what is in the best interest of Tonya and treating her according to reasonable medical practice despite the parents’ right to speak on behalf of their daughter.

Use of Organizational Document

In healthcare companies, official documents such as a company’s purpose or value propositions guide decision-making. The hospital’s purpose and values may measure the medical staff’s decision to withdraw Tonya’s life support. PHI FPX 3200 Assessment 5 adopted mission statement emphasizes the commitment of the hospital to provide patients with the best quality treatment while at the same time ensuring they receive quality care with particular regard to their safety. This goal statement is affirmed by Tonya being taken off life-support for the realization that she will only be kept alive to suffer indefinitely. The values that the hospital could have are integrity, respect, and compassion (Minicuci et al., 2020). As it can be seen, Tonya’s case is hopeless and, therefore, replacing her with a vegetative state; thus, pulling the plug in this situation is humane because it will be the best way to let her go. Since they are also only doing what they believe is an excellent ethical practice and according to the principles of their professional judgment, the decision made by the medical team is consistent with the concept of integrity as well.

PHI FPX 3200 Assessment 5 End Of Life Decision

End-of-life decisions may also be described in terms of how they will be done in the hospital, where rules and procedures of consulting ethical committees on the patient’s behalf and including the surrogate decision-maker of the patient may be followed. It is most likely that the medical team applied these rules and procedures to pull out the life support from Tonya. Finally, the medical team can share in the understanding of the hospital’s purpose, beliefs, rules, and procedures regarding Tonya’s removal from life support. The medical staff should uphold the purpose of the hospital, whose focus is the quality treatment of patients, ensure conformity to the required standards and patients’ needs, and exercise professional judgment and ethical practice.

Role of Accrediting Bodies

Accreditation organizations are essential to ensure that healthcare organizations provide their clients with safe, efficient, and quality care. These groups come up with standards and undertake surveys to determine whether or not the healthcare institutions conform to these standards. An organization of a hospital, in this case, a reimbursement status in light of Tonya’s situation, can be crucial when deciding on whether to take her off life support. An example of a PHI FPX 3200 Assessment 5 accrediting agency is the Joint Commission, which evaluates healthcare organizations in the United States. The Joint Commission sets up guidelines and requirements for the care of patients, safety, and quality and surveys to find out how closely organizations conform to these criteria. The general requirement is that for a healthcare organization to be accredited, it must meet the criteria (Gulati et al., 2021).

The value of the hospital’s accreditation is seen when dealing with Tonya’s case to determine whether she should be taken off life support. In particular, a hospital needs to present proof to the Joint Commission that it meets its standards of care at the end of life, which is the institution’s policy regarding whether or not to remove life-sustaining measures. Hence, if the medical staff is operating under their professional requirement and ethical principles, their decision to pull off the life support Tonya would suit the tenets that define professionalism (Foglia et al., 2019). Even if the hospital is certified, the criteria set by the accrediting organizations still have to be taken into consideration when making choices concerning end-of-life care. These requirements, which are supposed to ensure that patients receive the proper quality of safe, efficient, and effective treatment, have been developed according to the modern standards of practice. PHI FPX 3200 Assessment 5 medical staff’s decision to withdraw the life support for Tonya in this case also complies with the duty of nonmaleficence and tenants that consider the patient’s best interest (Gulati et al., 2021).

Conclusion

Since there are differences in the concept of life and death based on cultural differences and beliefs in the case of Tonya, it is challenging and eventually stressful to take her off life support. In such selections, healthcare practitioners and organizations may, however, get help from ethical principles and professional standards of behavior.

References

Ebbs, P., Carver, H., & Moritz, D. (2020). Principlism in paramedicine: An examination of applied healthcare ethics. Journal of Paramedic Practice, 12(8), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.12968/jpar.2020.12.8.cpd1

Foglia, M. B., Lowery, J., Sharpe, V. A., Tompkins, P., & Fox, E. (2019). The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety, 45(1), 47–56.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcjq.2018.04.007

Gulati, M., Levy, P. D., Mukherjee, D., Amsterdam, E., Bhatt, D. L., Birtcher, K. K., Blankstein, R., Boyd, J., Bullock-Palmer, R. P., Conejo, T., Diercks, D. B., Gentile, F., Greenwood, J. P., Hess, E. P., Hollenberg, S. M., Jaber, W. A., Jneid, H., Joglar, J. A., Morrow, D. A., & O’Connor, R. E. (2021). Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 78(22). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2021.07.053

Häyry, M. (2020). It’s just better utilitarianism. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 30(2), 1–25.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0963180120000882

Marseille, E., & Kahn, J. G. (2019). Utilitarianism and the ethical foundations of cost-effectiveness analysis in resource allocation for global healthhttps://doi.org/10.1186/s13010-019-0074-7

Survey of doctors’ perception of professional values. PLoS ONE, 15(12). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0244303

Molina-Mula, J., & Gallo-Estrada, J. (2020). International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(3), 835. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17030835

Nandifa, V. N. P., Jena, Y., & Joewana, S. (2020). Jurnal Pendidikan Kedokteran Indonesia: The Indonesian Journal of Medical Education, 9(1), 44. https://doi.org/10.22146/jpki.44511

Vearrier, L., & Henderson, C. M. (2021). Utilitarian principlism as a framework for crisis healthcare ethics. HEC Forum, 33(1), 45–60. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10730-020-09431-7