Another Gray Area in Healthcare:
Another Gray Area in Healthcare:
Ethics and the Law how they effect their decisions
Toni M. Cunningham
HCA 322: Health Care Ethics and Medical Law
Professor West
January 2, 2009
Ethical and legal concepts, including specific federal regulations, required of healthcare organizations to ensure the delivery of high quality healthcare that protects patient safety
Imagine this, you are fertility doctor who in the past had helped a twenty-six year old, single woman to have six babies; and now at the age of thirty-three years old that same single woman whose children are now between the ages of two and seven walks into your office and says “I am ready for my next baby”, (her last six embryos are in your possession). What would you do? What would you say to her? The first time you saw her she was a young, unmarried, college student, gainfully employed with cash and now still unmarried, but this time she is unemployed, living with her six children and her parents, no stable source of income, planning to return to college to finish her Masters degree after she has the next baby; but still she has the cash. What would you do? Do you have any responsibility other than helping a patient have a baby? Is there a process to qualify for this procedure? Is there a questionnaire that must be filled out? Are there any psychological tests that must be passed? In this paper I am going to cover these issues and many more as we all try to understand why a doctor would help a single, unemployed woman to have fourteen children when we are in a recession or if it is his place to decide or is his job just to serve?
Fertility doctors around the world are stunned by the actions of one particular Doctor in California; the way he runs his clinic, how he handles the in vitro process, and his thought process as to who he will help or not are now all in question. The American Society for Reproductive Medicine states “when dealing with the single individual doctors still have the
Ethics and the Law how they effect their decisions
Toni M. Cunningham
HCA 322: Health Care Ethics and Medical Law
Professor West
January 2, 2009
Ethical and legal concepts, including specific federal regulations, required of healthcare organizations to ensure the delivery of high quality healthcare that protects patient safety
Imagine this, you are fertility doctor who in the past had helped a twenty-six year old, single woman to have six babies; and now at the age of thirty-three years old that same single woman whose children are now between the ages of two and seven walks into your office and says “I am ready for my next baby”, (her last six embryos are in your possession). What would you do? What would you say to her? The first time you saw her she was a young, unmarried, college student, gainfully employed with cash and now still unmarried, but this time she is unemployed, living with her six children and her parents, no stable source of income, planning to return to college to finish her Masters degree after she has the next baby; but still she has the cash. What would you do? Do you have any responsibility other than helping a patient have a baby? Is there a process to qualify for this procedure? Is there a questionnaire that must be filled out? Are there any psychological tests that must be passed? In this paper I am going to cover these issues and many more as we all try to understand why a doctor would help a single, unemployed woman to have fourteen children when we are in a recession or if it is his place to decide or is his job just to serve?
Fertility doctors around the world are stunned by the actions of one particular Doctor in California; the way he runs his clinic, how he handles the in vitro process, and his thought process as to who he will help or not are now all in question. The American Society for Reproductive Medicine states “when dealing with the single individual doctors still have the
References: Pozgar, G. D. & Santucci, N. (2005), Legal and Ethical Issues for Health Professionals, Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. ISBN: 9780763752385 Miller, Rebecca C. Hutton, (2004), Problems in Health Care Law Edition: 8, Published by Jones & Bartlett Publishers, ISBN 0763727725, George D. Pozgar, Nina M. Santucci, (2007), Legal Aspects of Health Care Administration Edition: 10, illustrated Published by Jones & Bartlett Publishers, ISBN 0763739278, Fertility and Sterility Vol. 86, No. 5, November 2006 Access to fertility treatment by gays, lesbians, and unmarried persons, The Ethics Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, http://www.asrm.org/Me-dia/Ethics/ethicsmain.html, Retrieved February 10, 2009 Copyright ©2004 American Society for Reproductive Medicine Fertility and Sterility VOL. 82, NO. 3, SEPTEMBER 2004 Child-rearing ability and the provision of fertility services, The Ethics Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, http://www.asrm.org/Media/Ethics/childrearing.pdf Retrieved February 12, 2009 Copyright ©2004 American Society for Reproductive Medicine[pic][pic][pic] ----------------------- [1] United Kingdom spelling of Fertilization. [2] A seemingly contradictory statement that may nonetheless be true.