Ethics in Health Administration Essay
According to Morrison (2005), healthcare is a dynamic field whereby one area has an effect on different independent areas. In that case, decisions must have an ethical bearing on human dignity, human values, the mission of the organization, and community service.Ethics in Health Administration Essay
Morrison in his text presents the ideas of eight philosophers whom he classifies into two groups. Each group contributes to the development of principles of health care ethics. The first group was comprised of Thomas Aquinas, Rawls, Mill, and Kant. The second group was comprised of Aristotle, Frankl, Buber, and Kohlberg.
The first group focuses on the issues that revolve around making of ethical decisions as well as the universal issues that have a bearing on ethics. Aquinas advances the principle of basic good. He argues that since human beings have the capability of rationality, they should choose what is good over evil.
Goodness has an effect of preserving life in the human race (Morrison, 2005). Kant on the other hand advanced the principle of good will. Kant argued that the test of what is good lies on a categorical imperative that whatever is right for one individual is right for all people.
Mill advanced the utility theory. According to Morrison (2005), he argued that for something to be good it has to fulfill the threshold of utility. In other words, goodness is whatever provides to the greatest number of people the greatest benefit. Ethical decisions should not focus on an individual, rather on the outcome that best serves the entirety of people who are affected. Rawls advanced the argument of social justice. He argued that ethical decisions should protect those of lesser stature in the society.
The second group focused on personal ethics. Aristotle advances the concept of virtue and practical wisdom in healthcare. He argues that for one to be virtuous, his decisions are not a point of discussion solely. Decisions are to be actionable. Buber advanced a hierarchy of relationships presenting how human beings relate to one another (Morrison, 2005).Ethics in Health Administration Essay
Kohlberg advanced the developmental stage theory. In his argument, he discussed that human beings must pass through a lower stage to achieve a higher stage in their development. According to Morrison (2005), the transition from one stage to another is through finding solutions in the challenges of life.
Kohlberg’s developmental stage reasoning serves to explain and expound why different people make varied decisions in healthcare. Frankl argues that commitments, beliefs, and relationships the administrator has with a Deity will influence most of the administrator’s decisions. In this respect, he argues that when administrators make decisions, they are responsible for the effects of such decisions. (Morrison, 2005)
In conclusion, after a review of the ideas forwarded by the big eight, ethics at a personal sense can be described to be a set of rules or regulations that are independent of the law that determine what rules of morality are to be followed by an organization or a group when making decisions.Ethics in Health Administration Essay
In the professional sense, they are policies that are set based on each profession to guide the health care administrators on how to make decisions and how to identify ethical behavior. (Morrison, 2005) For example, the American Medical Association’s Code of Medical Ethics lays down some of these guidelines used by physicians in America.
Reference
Morrison,E.(2005). Ethics in Health Administration: A Practical Approach for Decision Makers. Sudbury: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.Ethics in Health Administration Essay