Working in the healthcare industry is equally gratifying and challenging for any healthcare professional. High ethical standards are necessary for healthcare. Each day of health care workers can be filled with choices that have positive and negative consequences. The four principles of health care ethics provide medical practitioners with guidelines to make decisions when they face complicated situations involving patients. The four principles of healthcare ethics are autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice. Using these four principles can help healthcare professionals identify ethical dilemmas and find solutions by having conversations with their patients about their needs and desires.
Dr Angela Kerr is a paediatrician who bases her patients’ care on scientific research and data. Jenna and Chris Smith are the parents of Ana, a 5-day-old baby girl. The Smith wants to raise Ana as naturally as possible and not allow her to be vaccinated. Jenna and Chris believe that vaccines can be a cause of developing autism in babies based on the research they did. So, the Smiths strongly agree that the harm caused by vaccines outweighs their benefits, and they are not going to vaccinate Ana despite the recommendations of medical professionals.
Dr Kerr tries to explain the importance of vaccination to Jenna and Chris. She states that vaccines save lives and protect against long-term health consequences. Dr Kerr brings the example of the recent outbreak of measles as the result of individuals who have not been vaccinated against it. Dr Kerr also suggests the Smith family use the federal government’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) to read about vaccine safety. She explains that people can use the VAERS website to report any adverse reactions to vaccines, and based on that data government can monitor its safety. Dr Kerr also mentions that many studies show that vaccines do not cause autism in children. Finally, Dr Kerr talks about “herd immunity.” When a person gets vaccinated against a disease, their risk of infection is also reduced, so they’re also less likely to transmit the virus or bacteria to others. As more people in a community get vaccinated, fewer people remain vulnerable, and there is less possibility for an infected person to pass the pathogen on to another person. Lowering the possibility for a pathogen to circulate in the community protects those who cannot be vaccinated from the disease targeted by the vaccine. Dr Kerr concludes that most states require children to be vaccinated before they can attend school or preschool. Dr Kerr understands that vaccination is a personal choice, but she believes that it is very important to be vaccinated in order to protect an individual and the whole community. Dr Kerr is faced with an ethical dilemma of whether she should respect the decision of Ana’s parents or use ethical behaviour to make more recommendations regarding a course of action.
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