Ethical Decision Making Paper
Lindsey Diana
Ethics-PHI-220-402
Dianne Wendt
October 25, 2011
Ethical Decision Making Paper A health care case in need of evaluation using the steps to ethical decision making is described in Ethical Dimensions in the Health Professions by Ruth B. Purtilo and Regina F. Doherty. According to the book, a student named Andrea was working in the outpatient clinic one morning when she saw someone she knew. Her father’s business partner, Mr. Brown, whose health was failing and interfering with his earnings according to her father, was sitting in the waiting area chatting with another man. The man was young and very different from Mr. Brown, wearing a torn leather jacket. Andrea did not think anything of it at the time because she remembered her father admiring the fact that Mr. Brown has the ability to have friends in all walks of life. After hanging up her coat, Andrea returns and notices the other man is gone. She now is supposed to take Mr. Brown’s clinical history and prepare him for his tests. After Andrea leads Mr. Brown to the changing room, she notices he dropped something out of his pocket outside of the room. When she picks up the brown bag, she finds a syringe and a small plastic bag of white powder labeled “Brown, $450” (Purtilo and Doherty 131). Andrea needs to use the six step method to decision making that Purtilo and Doherty lay out in Ethical Dimensions in the Health Professions to help solve her predicament.
Gather Relevant Information Step one of the decision making process is to gather relevant information. In this situation, not a lot of information is known. As far as clinical information, all Andrea knows is that he is there for some tests, what she learned from asking him his history, and according to her father, Mr. Brown’s health is failing. Andrea does not know for sure what the bag contains, although it is easy to guess being that there is a syringe with the powder, and it was labeled as four hundred and fifty dollars. She does not
Ethics-PHI-220-402
Dianne Wendt
October 25, 2011
Ethical Decision Making Paper A health care case in need of evaluation using the steps to ethical decision making is described in Ethical Dimensions in the Health Professions by Ruth B. Purtilo and Regina F. Doherty. According to the book, a student named Andrea was working in the outpatient clinic one morning when she saw someone she knew. Her father’s business partner, Mr. Brown, whose health was failing and interfering with his earnings according to her father, was sitting in the waiting area chatting with another man. The man was young and very different from Mr. Brown, wearing a torn leather jacket. Andrea did not think anything of it at the time because she remembered her father admiring the fact that Mr. Brown has the ability to have friends in all walks of life. After hanging up her coat, Andrea returns and notices the other man is gone. She now is supposed to take Mr. Brown’s clinical history and prepare him for his tests. After Andrea leads Mr. Brown to the changing room, she notices he dropped something out of his pocket outside of the room. When she picks up the brown bag, she finds a syringe and a small plastic bag of white powder labeled “Brown, $450” (Purtilo and Doherty 131). Andrea needs to use the six step method to decision making that Purtilo and Doherty lay out in Ethical Dimensions in the Health Professions to help solve her predicament.
Gather Relevant Information Step one of the decision making process is to gather relevant information. In this situation, not a lot of information is known. As far as clinical information, all Andrea knows is that he is there for some tests, what she learned from asking him his history, and according to her father, Mr. Brown’s health is failing. Andrea does not know for sure what the bag contains, although it is easy to guess being that there is a syringe with the powder, and it was labeled as four hundred and fifty dollars. She does not
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