Ethics in healthcare go beyond what is legal and provide moral guidelines to assist in complex decision making. Some examples of ethical issues include deciding who receives organ transplants, discontinuing life support, and how much care to provide uninsured patients. Ethics principles include doing no harm, preserving life, treating all patients equally, respecting patient choices, and maintaining professional standards of care. Patients have rights to considerate care, informed consent, privacy, and participation in advanced directives to refuse treatment.

1. Ethics in Healthcare
IHS

2. Learning Targets
• What are ethics?
• How do ethics impact decision making in
healthcare?

3. Ethics
• Go beyond what is legal.
• These are moral guidelines that assist in
making decisions in healthcare.
• Ethics are not always easily defined, do
not always have a clear right or wrong
answer.

4. Examples of Ethic Issues
• Deciding who
receives a single
organ for transplant.
• Deciding when and
how to discontinue
life support.
• Deciding how much
care to afford a
patient who cannot
pay.
• Should assisted
suicide be allowed?
• Should we use
genetics to modify
humans?
• Would a cloned
human being be
treated the same as
one born naturally?

5. Ethics: The Basics
• First, do no harm.
• Second, do your best
to preserve life and
health before all
else.
• Treat all patients
equally.
• Respect the choices
of the patient.
• Be loyal, sincere,
honest and caring.
• Do unto others…

6. Guides in Ethics: Patient Bill of
Rights
• Patients Deserve in
all settings:
– Considerate and
respectful care
– Complete information
regarding care
– Information necessary
to give informed
consent.
– Access to advanced
directives and the
right to refuse
treatment.
– Privacy and
confidentiality
– Information and right
to refuse participation
in research
– Review medical
records

7. Advanced Directives in Healthcare
Living Will
• Legal document where
preferences and
direction about life
saving and life sustaining
medical care are made
by the patient, in
advance.
• Ex: DNR
Durable Power of Attorney
(POA)
• Legal Document
designating a person or
persons to make medical
decisions for the patient,
in the event that they
are unable to do so for
themselves.

8. Patient Right to Self Determination
• States that all patients who are legally
able to make their own decisions must be
given the maximum opportunity to do so,
and that they should be educated to and
given access to creation of Advanced
Directives.

9. Ethical Guides: Professional
Standards
• Perform care only that
you are trained to and
legally permitted to
do.
• Use approved methods
of care.
• Obtain appropriate
permission from
patient and supervising
practitioner.
• Identify the patient.
• Observe all appropriate
safety measures.
• Maintain
confidentiality.
• Do not accept
unauthorized
compensation for care.
• Report mistakes
• Behave professionally.