Ethical Medical Field
Ethics in the Medical Field
How Professional Values and Ethics Influence Career Success Though good ethics are important in all business fields they are extremely important in the medical field. When it comes to unethical organizations much like Enron we talk about financial dealings or money laundering. However in the medical field we are dealing with human lives which cannot be replaced. As a result of this being such a critical field honorable work ethics are essential. Consequences of unethical behavior in the work place can extend from simple verbal or written warning to more severe disciplinary actions such as suspension, probation, termination, legal trouble such as indictment, convictions and prison time. …show more content…
Such penalties have been evident in our time from individuals such as Jack Kevorkian who is most commonly known as “Dr.
Death”. He specialized in challenging authority in the area of “Dr. assisted suicides” when he helped over 130 terminally ill patients take their own lives (Johnson, 1999). Dr. Kevorkian had devised a home-made suicide machine that would deliver a deadly dose of a concoction which would instantly kill his patient. He publically defended his view of having terminally ill patients overdosed to death as opposed to medicating to comfortable level and letting death come naturally. On March 26, 1999 Kevorkian was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to serve 10-25 years in jail of which he only served 8 years. In today’s society any organization or individual who exercises good work ethic in the medical field will certainly be lead down a path of success. How does one exercise good work ethic? One way is to have a well-executed Risk Management Program in the facility. A risk management program will essentially identify occurrences through incident reporting. This case reporting practice is a way of identifying incidents of errors, documenting them, and afterwards coming up with a solution that will prevent or minimize
mistakes. Another very practical method to prevent unethical practices is what is known as the “mother test”. The mother test is a very simple method of testing one’s self when coming across a difficult decision in the medical field. The point is to ask yourself the question “would like this done to my own mother”. This test essential has a strong effect in a person because it forced the individual to understand something that may be less than pleasant. Regardless of what method is utilized, we must always remember that we have a moral obligation to maintain a professional standard of care to patients.
Johnson, D. (1999). Kevorkian Sentenced to 10 to 25 Years in Prison. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/14/us/kevorkian-sentenced-to-10-to-25-years-in-prison.html
How Professional Values and Ethics Influence Career Success Though good ethics are important in all business fields they are extremely important in the medical field. When it comes to unethical organizations much like Enron we talk about financial dealings or money laundering. However in the medical field we are dealing with human lives which cannot be replaced. As a result of this being such a critical field honorable work ethics are essential. Consequences of unethical behavior in the work place can extend from simple verbal or written warning to more severe disciplinary actions such as suspension, probation, termination, legal trouble such as indictment, convictions and prison time. …show more content…
Such penalties have been evident in our time from individuals such as Jack Kevorkian who is most commonly known as “Dr.
Death”. He specialized in challenging authority in the area of “Dr. assisted suicides” when he helped over 130 terminally ill patients take their own lives (Johnson, 1999). Dr. Kevorkian had devised a home-made suicide machine that would deliver a deadly dose of a concoction which would instantly kill his patient. He publically defended his view of having terminally ill patients overdosed to death as opposed to medicating to comfortable level and letting death come naturally. On March 26, 1999 Kevorkian was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to serve 10-25 years in jail of which he only served 8 years. In today’s society any organization or individual who exercises good work ethic in the medical field will certainly be lead down a path of success. How does one exercise good work ethic? One way is to have a well-executed Risk Management Program in the facility. A risk management program will essentially identify occurrences through incident reporting. This case reporting practice is a way of identifying incidents of errors, documenting them, and afterwards coming up with a solution that will prevent or minimize
mistakes. Another very practical method to prevent unethical practices is what is known as the “mother test”. The mother test is a very simple method of testing one’s self when coming across a difficult decision in the medical field. The point is to ask yourself the question “would like this done to my own mother”. This test essential has a strong effect in a person because it forced the individual to understand something that may be less than pleasant. Regardless of what method is utilized, we must always remember that we have a moral obligation to maintain a professional standard of care to patients.
Johnson, D. (1999). Kevorkian Sentenced to 10 to 25 Years in Prison. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/14/us/kevorkian-sentenced-to-10-to-25-years-in-prison.html