Normative Ethics: Searching for Moral Standards - Free Essay Sample

Ethics is a set of moral principles that guide the behavior of individuals. It also seeks to establish the difference between what is right and wrong in a given context. There are three categories of ethics, namely meta-ethics, applied ethics, and normative ethics. For this paper, we will focus on normative ethics. Normative ethics involves a search for moral standards that govern human conduct (Schroeder & Schroder, 2017). There are three subdivisions of normative ethics consequentialist theory, deontological theory, and character-based or virtue theory.

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Deontological theory is a school of thought that states that a given action's moral value lies in the performance of one's duties and following a prescribed set of rules. In this theory, the consequences are not considered. The consequentialist theory states that the moral value of a given action lies within its results. The right action will produce the best outcomes in the situation (Amer, 2019). Virtue theory, unlike the previous two theories, is focused on the person doing the act. It is a person-centered theory where the act does not carry the moral value but the person doing the deed. Goodness is not in any given act but the person committing the act.

In this scenario, the health professionals receive a patient who is diagnosed with an overdose. She says that she is not supposed to be there before she passes out, and she becomes uncommunicative. As her condition worsens, her son comes with a note containing specific directives from the patient not to be put on life support. The issue is since the patient's condition is getting worse and from this situation, it looks highly likely that the patient may need to be put on life support to sustain her life what do the health professionals do? She gave express instructions not to be put on life support, but it is a health's professional duty to do whatever is possible to save a patient's life. What will health professionals do? Forsake their professional duty and follow the patient's express wishes?

According to the deontological approach, health professionals have a duty and obligation to a patient to do everything within their ability to save a patient's life. Their actions' moral value lies within the professionals performing their duties (Mandal, Ponnambath & Parija, 2016). In this case, if the health professionals do their job, it means that they should perform all medical procedures even if it means putting the patient on life support against her wishes.

In the consequentialist approach, the health professionals have to look at the consequences before committing any act and choose the action with the best consequences. The best consequence in this scenario is the patient being alive and fully recovered. Therefore the professionals should treat the patient and go against her wishes and put her on life support if they have to keep her alive (Sin, 2016). Under the virtue approach, the act does not have any moral significance, but the person committing the act does. In this scenario, whatever decision the health professionals take, whether it is honoring the patient's wishes or putting her on life support, the moral significance lies with the person who commits the act and not the act itself.

The advantage of the deontological approach is that in this situation, if the health professionals perform their duties, then the life of the patient is saved. In this case, the only disadvantage would be that the patient's wishes will not be honored. Under the consequential approach, the professionals want to save the patient's life, which in the scenario represents the best consequence; hence, the advantage is that the patient's life will be saved, but the only disadvantage will be that the patient's directives were not followed. In the virtue approach, it is up to the professionals to determine what they will do since the act does not matter rather than the person's intentions when committing the act. The advantage would be that the patient's life would be saved or the patient's wishes would be honored which would make the patient happy, and the disadvantage would be that if the patient's wishes are honored she may lose her life or her wishes will not be followed and she may feel disrespected.

Conclusion

In my opinion, the patient's life should be saved whether the patient wants that or it goes against her wishes. In the given scenario, it is very hard to even determine whether the patient was in her right mind giving her directive or not. Given the overdose and the directive, it is possible that the patient could even be suffering from depression. Using the deontological theory on ethical practice, it is the duty of a health professional to save a patient's life, and this duty or obligation should take precedence. In the case of the consequentialist approach, the best consequence in this situation is saving the patient's life, and the worst consequence would be letting the patient die. Based on the situation, the patient's life should take precedence over any other thing, and therefore the health professionals should save her life and put her on life support where necessary. They should also consider offering any counseling sessions to help the patient once she recovers. In the medical field, it should always be remembered that life takes precedence over all other matters.

References

Sin, W. (2016). Caring for parents: A consequentialist approach.

Schroeder, M., & Schroder, M. (2017). Normative ethics and meta-ethics. The Routledge handbook of meta-ethics, 674-686.

Amer, A. B. (2019). Understanding the Ethical Theories in Medical Practice. Open Journal of Nursing, 9(02), 188.

Mandal, J., Ponnambath, D. K., & Parija, S. C. (2016). Utilitarian and deontological ethics in medicine. Tropical Parasitology, 6(1), 5. doi: 10.4103/2229-5070.175024