Case study and assignment
global pandemic has overwhelmed the healthcare system of Country X, leading to a critical shortage of life-saving ventilators in hospitals. At City General Hospital, there are 10 ventilators available, but 25 critically ill patients require ventilatory support. Dr. Harper, the chief medical offic must determine which patients will receive the ventilate
The patients include:
- Anna, 35 years old, a single mother of two with no pre-existing conditions and a high likelihood of recovery.
- James, 68 years old, a retired professor with moderate pre-existing conditions and a lower likelihood of recovery.
- Lisa, 40 years old, a frontline healthcare worker with mild asthma and a moderate likelihood of recovery.
- Evan, 25 years old, a recent college graduate with severe pre-existing conditions and a low likelihood of recovery.
- Mrs. Wong, 82 years old, a retired teacher with dementia and a very low likelihood of recovery.
- Daniel, 55 years old, a philanthropist funding pandemic relief programs, with a moderate likelihood of recovery.
The ethical dilemma revolves around how to allocate the scarce ventilators fairly and justly while considering the potential outcomes, societal impact, and individual needs.
Key Ethical Questions:
- How should healthcare providers prioritize patients when resources are limited?
- What role should factors like age, social contributions, or likelihood of survival play in decision-making?
- How can healthcare providers ensure that allocation is equitable and free from bias?
Should lifestyle factors be_considered in the allocation of scarce life_saying medical resources?
Defend your position using ETHICAL principles. Using the DIALECTICAL PROCESS state what your ethical position would be and why. You are to take a position and defend it. You should use some ethical principle to decide what you think is the morally correct thing to do. You must state those principles and explain how they have been applied to the situation. You should indicate that you have rejected alternative positions to your own and the reasons why you have done so. In so doing you need to enunciate clearly the values and ethical principles) you are using to both reject the alternative positions and to defend or support your own.
The ethical principles were presented in Module/Chapter 2 and include Egoism, Utility, Natural Law, Categorical Imperative, Maxi-Min Principle, Existentialism, Feminism. Refer to one or more of these as ethical principles when answering assignments. Do not use the Moral Principles of Health Care as Ethical Principles. The Moral Principles involved in Health Care include:
Autonomy, Informed Consent, Truth Telling, Confidentiality, Privacy. These are NOT the basic ethical principles such as include Egoism, Utility, Natural Law, Categorical Imperative, Maxi-Min Principle, Existentialism, Feminism. The moral principles are popular and recognized in several ways in health care including in “codes” and in statements of “rights” because there are so many of the Basic Ethical Principles that support the moral judgment that these MORAL Principles of Health Care are a MORALLY GOOD THING.
Use this template or form to make certain that you include each part of the process-parts a to e Label your parts with the letters a to e to make very clear that you have done each part.
Dialectical thinking: the 5 parts
- a. Take a position on this question or issue Be as exact as you can be. Be precise in your use of language ethical principles and values).
- b. Provide the reasons why you think this position is better defended by reason and evidence than are the alternative positions Position defended using reasoning (ethical principles and values) in support of the judgment (conclusion of the argument).
You state the reasons why the position you take makes sense and has evidence and reasons (ethical principles and values) to support it other than your feelings or personal preference or your opinion or what you were brought up to believe or what just about everyone you know thinks or believes.
Philosophers have offered such reasons (ethical principles and values) and evidence for the positions they have taken and you should consider them and if you agree you can and should so state them in support of your own position. - c. State the reasons why you found the other positions that use other ethical principles and values flawed or less defensible than the one you are defending
- d. State the criticisms of your position from those who use other ethical principles and values
- e. Respond to those criticisms from those using other ethical principles and values-a rebuttal- how do you defend your position in light of those criticisms