Lapse of Ethics in Healthcare Paper Example

Introduction to the issue

In the health care grounds, safeguarding the mission to care for the sick while at the same time observing ethical standards and adhering to the established code of governance is of paramount importance to the universal health care. Health ethics entails accepted moral values that deal with vices relating to issues affecting the provision of health care services and medicine in general. No matter the classification in our social, cultural, economic and other circumstances are, we are all accountable and responsible for upholding ethics in all aspects of life (Toms, 2018). Better guiding code of ethics is concerned with a basket of a vast array of morals that often arise in the practice of medicine and health procedures that are crafted to direct the functionality of the health sector as a whole. All efforts geared towards ensuring the provision of health care is both ethical and professional.

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Regardless of this efforts, increased ethics lapse in health care has been recorded across the sector creating a stumbling block to quality services provision - advancement in the medical field results to issues touching the aspect of moral problems to decline. Health practitioners and the laid system are the major players in the collapse of predetermined ethics guiding the field of medicine.

Description of the lapse of ethics in health care

There is a lapse in ethics in the field of medicine and society as a whole, attributed to various issues facing society. It is evident in the health field, an estimated good number of citizens stay in areas classified as rural areas (Tachtsoglou & Lera, 2017). In context, it is cumbersome to provide quality and timely health care with enough personnel in this rural areas and more so lack of various specialist medics. This factor has fueled the deplorable health conditions of the lives in this areas, to add on to this the nature of the terrain such as hilly areas makes it entirely hard to access health care services. But over the years there have been tremendous improvements through support from education centres and rural hospitals. Although there has been a definite improvement, serious ethic lapse issues have ailed the sector.

Keeping off the patient from rural areas from accessing the services because of the following:

Justice issues lapse - as a general rule justice involves the provision of health resources fairly to all without discrimination, for this reason, patients in rural areas subjected to the distribution of health care by profiling. Such elements include the financial wellbeing of a patient. As a result, it means those who are well up can access health services as opposed to the poor. Hence no justice since the provision of the health services is given on the purchasing muscle of a patient rather than their rights entitlement to better health care

Accessibility being a nightmare due to the poor condition of rural roads as opposed to urban areas these perceived terrain factors are a prominent vice common in rural areas that denies deserving patients from health care accessibility plus the delivery of the services to them.

Inadequate financing, in most cases medical facilities are poorly funded resulting to lack of medical supplies to a given level that is alarming (Toms, 2018). Patients are often visiting this facilities and pity to them they do not get the intend quality medication and out of pain and anger results to a constrained work environment for the medics attached to the health centres as they feel neglected by bodies in charge. Thus kneejerk reactions often result in cropping up of unethical practices when looking for shortcuts to deal with issues ailing them.

Unqualified Professionals infiltrate the field, considering medics is one career professionals are well-remunerated quacks always get their way into the profession. They misdiagnoses and their conduct is of questionable status. And with their tremendous increase, the standards practice tends to be compromised hence fueling more lapse in recommended ethical practices (Aqel, 2016).

Incompetency of medical care - there are a given number of issues affecting competency of medical care especially in a rural setting such as lack of professional personnel resulting to constrained resources, hence pushing the available medics to take up duties beyond their level of know-how and skills due to the urgency and the level of the patient need. This unethical vice may be employed frequently especially if the level of monitoring is also poor leaving a doorway for discrepancy and multiple gross health care errors. Patients require attention that is more of the time supervised at a given level, but this again lacks a system of follow-ups due to the meagre available and allocated resources (DuBois, 2016). Given that, some medical conditions require a skilled medics in a given field throughout monitor the patient.

Unethical leadership in all organisations concerned with health care provision- leadership plays a vital role in ensuring there is a move to the right direction in line with the organisation's mission and vision hence act as drivers and the rest of the employees tend to follow in the guided path by their leaders.

Medical facilities that have managers who are don't care, when it comes to upholding accepted ethics. And are often incompetent in services delivery resulting in a decline in the required standard of medical practice.

Confidentiality and privacy- Health care setting fuels the development of a culture where health care providers familiarise with the patients in the community. The fuss creates a great discomfort as to whether the health care personnel can maintain the secrecy and privacy of their respective patients in the society without any breaches, thus at no time should a patient medical report be put in the public limelight for discussion or analysis. In most cases across the health field, this is a sensitive ethical issue that need to be addressed with a lot of emphasis and concern (Tachtsoglou & Lera, 2017). Some patients keep off health centres for fear of their private, sensitive medical history being availed to the public especially where it comes to very secretive personal medical issues they need to protect. Communicating with other offices by talking on the phone, faxing, or even email (internet) which is not safe and secure also have increased ethical lapse in ensuring patients privacy as required concealed entirely.

The burden of ethics lapse in Health Care

The effects of ethics lapse in health care are felt far and wide; the burden lies squarely to various quotas as follows.

Exploitation of the poor in rural areas as the concerned body is unable to avail affordable health care services. The only available health centers are owned by greedy health providers who put money before the health of the patient. As a result, health services are out of the poor's reach, and they scramble for the few affordable government facilities inadequately stocked with both medical supplies and health practitioners (DuBois, 2016).

The lapse has also resulted to the government to increase its budget allocation to the sector which in turn is misappropriated by those in charge of the kitty. As a result, there is no value for the money spent by the government in the health sector.

Increased mortality rate as result of negligence by medics who do not care about the code of ethics guiding them, the issue has also been fueled by the deprived provision of health services and poorly equipped health service centres that are not accessible due to location and high medical charges.

Increase in the number of quacks and rog medics has added the government an extra expenditure to put up a control agency in charge of legislation and code of conduct governing the sector (Tachtsoglou & Lera, 2017). Done to flush out unethical rog medical practitioners.

The burden on the society as it has to care for the sick, this results to decrease in productivity and growth of the economy as productive labour lies utilised - the result of this poverty and deplorable living conditions giving birth to other social vices such as the rise in crime rate among others.

Increase in the number of orphans and windows, as a result, the level of dependency is on the rise. Defendant to the group is burden with the social and financial responsibility of the nurturing they have to offer to their significant others.

Ethics lapses Relationship with Health

Ethics lapses in the health sector have a direct and indirect impact on health. Consider a situation where a medical service provider practices unethical codes and thereby misdiagnose the patient and give them the wrong medications. It would culminate to poor health state and can even lead to deaths in a society (DuBois, 2016). Presence of medics who charge high medical and service fees make the ailing to keep off from seeking this services they are a dire need. Opening the gap between the rich and the poor in the society, failure to get treated on its self is detrimental to the patient and dependents plus the community at large as it can cripple the health sector of a nation. When emphasis is laid on the provision of quality health services by ensuring ethics are adhered to latter and ruling out any error of omission or commission by those in charge it would go a long way in alleviating the vice; hence health status of society would tremendously improve.

On this basis there exists a strong relationship between ethics and health. when there are ethics lapses in the sector, health is weak, and there is a lot of suffering felt, and the vice versa is true. Laying robust code of ethics defining the field and inclusion of a body in charge of upholding these moral would give birth to a healthy society with powerful and sophisticated health systems in place (Aqel, 2016).

Aetiology determinants of ethics lapses in health care

Lack of an elaborate health system in place has ignited growth and increases in ethics lapses. There are no useful bodies following up on the provision of standard health care services and ensuring laid down legislation governing the field this provides a ground where exploitation of the poor flourish, misappropriation of funds, poor equipping and allocation of health providers. Social stratification has also aided in spreading of the vice as the rich are favoured by the inequitable distribution of health services since they can afford compared to the low class who crowd for services in only a few available health service centres (Nelson, Rosenberg, Weiss & Goodrich, 2014). Low level of awareness and education has played a role; this has enabled quarks to exploit the citizens based on their ignorance and literacy levels.

Leadership is vital in any managerial position, lack of ethics in direction opens a doorway to decline in health as ethics often compromised for selfish interests subjecting the sector to experience a crop of unethical practices that hurt the field. The number of trained health providers to the population is low leaving a lot deserving medical attention unattended and lef...