Analyze your role as a health care manager in this ethics committee decision.
Based on your review of the case and the fact that the parents are not in agreement, state your recommendation to the committee for next steps.
Analyze your role as a health care manager in this ethics committee decision. Based on your review of the case and the fact that the parents are not in agreement, state your recommendation to the committee for next steps.
Introduction
You are a health care manager at a hospital and have been asked to review the case of this family. They want to know if their baby daughter should undergo an invasive procedure that will likely end up costing over $100,000. The parents are not in agreement about whether or not the procedure is needed or even possible, so you need to make an ethical decision about what course of action is best for this patient population.
The family has been unable to agree on whether the procedure is needed.
The family has been unable to agree on whether the procedure is needed. The mother does not have a car and therefore depends on others for transportation, which she cannot afford. She also needs assistance with activities of daily living like eating and bathing because of her disability. As health care manager, you have a duty to your patient population to provide all necessary treatments and procedures that are necessary for their health care needs.
The mother does not have a car and therefore depends on others for transportation.
The mother does not have a car and therefore depends on others for transportation. She has been advised to take her child with special needs to the doctor when necessary, but this is not feasible because of the distance involved. The child’s range of motion is limited, so it will not be able to stand or walk unassisted until further treatment has been completed. The child is in a wheelchair, hospital bed and nursing home at this time and may need additional equipment such as an electric trolley or lift chair if you are planning on visiting them at home or if they move outside their home environment (e.g., visiting relatives).
This family cannot afford to pay for the procedure.
The family is poor, and they don’t have the resources to pay for transportation.
The family does not have a car or money to purchase one.
The parents cannot afford to take time off work, so they would need an alternate way of getting there and back home again.
As health care manager, you have a duty to your patient population to provide all necessary treatments and procedures.
As a health care manager, you have a duty to your patient population to provide all necessary treatments and procedures. This means that if a patient needs an operation, then you must perform it. You also have the responsibility to ensure that other patients are not harmed by your actions or inaction.
In this instance, there is no evidence that any harm was done by administering antibiotics to both children in the same manner as their mother requested them (1). Even if there were some risk involved in performing the surgery on one child while they weren’t sick enough yet (which we don’t know), it would still be fair game because both children had been exposed through their mother’s request for antibiotic treatment against strep throat infection–they were not currently showing symptoms at all!
However, if you had made an error in judgment here then it might have been grounds for disciplinary action on behalf of yourself as well as anyone else involved such as doctors’ assistants who assisted with prepping children prior to getting started with surgery; nurses who assisted throughout surgery; etcetera…
Weighing the benefits of this procedure against the risk is up to you, but consider a few factors in your decision.
While you have not been asked to make this decision, it is important for you to weigh the benefits of this procedure against the risk. In addition, consider a few factors that may influence your decision:
The patient’s health, age and other factors
The cost of the procedure
The patient’s other options (e.g., surgery) or no treatment at all
Whether or not there are any other non-clinical factors that influence your decision like religion or culture
Deciding whether or not an invasive procedure like this should be done is a complicated ethical decision that calls for careful consideration
The decision whether or not to perform an invasive procedure like laser surgery is a complicated ethical decision that calls for careful consideration. The patient’s best interests must be considered, along with their ability to make informed decisions about their care and understand the risks and benefits of any given treatment option.
For instance, if you were reviewing this case, you might say: “The parents are not in agreement about whether or not laser surgery should be performed on their son’s eye. If it comes down to one parent saying no while the other says yes–and they don’t agree with each other–it would be difficult for us as health care managers/providers (or even just doctors) who have both read all our paperwork thoroughly enough times over years together as colleagues at work (or even just friends) so we know what was said by whom…
Conclusion
The ethical decision in this case is complicated. The family has been unable to agree on whether the procedure is needed, and they have not been able to afford it. This means that you need to consider the benefits of invasive procedures like this one carefully when deciding whether or not they should be done on your patients.