The Health Care Ethics Studies

Educational Resources

Assessing the Problem: Reflective Cues For Ethical Decision-Making

Please describe briefly a problem or situation that emerge in the case study under discussion: Answer the questions below as explicitly as possible.

Overview

• What were the healthcare provider(s) trying to achieve? Cite different perspectives.
• Why do you think the different healthcare providers responded as they did?
• What were the consequences of behaviors for the patient?/others?/ healthcare provider(s)?
• What do you believe the patients/others might feel about the healthcare provider's response or action?
  • Patient:
  • Others:
• How were the feelings of different persons made obvious?
  • Patient
  • Others

Personal Values

• How do you think you would you feel if you were in the healthcare provider's shoes?
• Do you think healthcare providers' personal values or organizational issues - or other factors - were influencing their actions? Please explain:

Ethical Problems

• Is there any evidence that the different healthcare provider acted in accordance with their beliefs and professional standards or codes?

• If not, what factors might have encouraged them to act in incongruent ways?

Tools

• What knowledge did or should inform the healthcare provider?

• What knowledge/information should be given to patient/family members?

Reflections

• Do the issues in the case studies connect with any of your own previous experiences?
• After reflecting on a case, do you think you would handle a similar situation differently than the healthcare provider did in the scenario that was provided?
  Please comment:
• What would be the consequences of alternative actions for the patient?/others?/the healthcare provider?
• How would you describe the extent to which reflecting on these stories has changed your feelings about similar experiences?
• Can you support yourself and others better as a consequence of reflecting on these stories? Explain:
• After reflecting on these stories, do you think it will change the way in which you work with patients, families, and your colleagues? If so, how would it change?
• What are some things that could be done by the hospital/community/individual to help resolve the problems that develop? Who should be involved in such discussions?