Ethics Week 2 paper

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Augusta Technical College *

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Philosophy

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Feb 20, 2024

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Summative Assessment: Decision-Making Investigation Example Respond to the following investigation prompts in 75 -1 50 words each. Cite at least two reputable references used to complete your responses. One reference must be your textbook, Ethics: Theory and Contemporary Issues . Reputable references include trade or industry publications, government or agency websites, scholarly works, a textbook, or other sources of similar quality.  Identify an ethical dilemma you may encounter in the workplace. (Your answer for this item does not need to be 75-150 words.) The ethical situation I faced involved a 76-year-old female resident who suffered a debilitating car accident. Her mind was intact and she was paralyzed from the waist down. The resident had lived at home being cared for by aides and nurses which her husband, a doctor paid for. Once her spouse passed away from a massive heart attack their only child, a daughter placed the mother into a nursing facility two days after the funeral being that she was the executor of the will. Her husband believed that the daughter would continue to care for her mother at home which was not the case. The mother pleaded with staff to contact a lawyer of her acquaintance so that she could get out of the facility. Administration refused to get involved and the daughter refused the resident a personal cell phone, in effect imprisoning the resident within the nursing facility against her will. The resident asked me to please call the lawyer for her. I knew that the company did not want to let her out as she was a privately paid client and that it would be frowned upon for staff to make personal calls for residents. So, my dilemma was do I do the right thing or stand silently and watch the resident suffer needlessly due to the company's greed.  Describe how you would use an ethical problem-solving methodology or decision model to investigate your current ethical dilemma. The ethical issue as far as I could tell was whether I would be crossing a line between morally right versus legally inappropriate conduct. I literally went and read through every word of the employee handbook and called my attorney and asked him where I would stand legally if I placed a phone call for the resident. He advised me that I could lose my job as the facility would definitely frown upon my involvement in the situation. He asked me if my concern was from a place of generally sound care and would my actions no matter the consequences were acceptable to me. In the end, he said that he could not find any legal rationale for not placing a call for the resident. I set an appointment to call him the following morning. I went to work and at the appointment time I called and handed the phone to the resident who had been trying to get in touch with him. The attorney came to the nursing home and met with his Aunt and needless to say she was out of the facility within two weeks. The problem was that the daughter was a drug addict, and her behavior was irrational with her sometimes making little sense. The facility had requested that she leave on several occasions when she became aggressive with the resident in question about money. My personal principles did not align with the company where a simple phone call was being withheld for no good reason except the resident did not want to be there so I resigned as the company’s principles directly contrasted my own.  Describe the possible solutions and impacts of making decisions about this dilemma. The outcome of my choice was to help after I knew that I was not making an illegal decision in regard to responding to the resident’s request. The resident was able to return home with care in place to become a philanthropist and volunteer at various hospitals. She continued to make a difference in advocating for other elderly residents in nursing facilities. She also visited different residents weekly at the nursing facilities to ensure that their rights were not being violated or overlooked in any way. The decision for me was a difficult one as the job was my only income at that time and I was afraid of not being able to support my family so in the end I was right to help.

 Explain what impact your values may have on your decision. There are several ethical values that have helped me become the person I was raised to be, such as honesty, integrity, fairness, etc.. But mostly I live by the golden rule of the Bible, “ So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets . 12 “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. (Matthew 7:12) . Basically, do unto others as you would like them to do to you. I believe strongly in being fair and honesty plays a great part in how others treat you with misperceptions making others mistreat or turn a blind eye to what they know is inherently wrong like the Holocaust. The ethical value is I believe should be followed is honesty. I believe that if you are honest and adhere to the golden rule than you can not help but to come out on the right side of situations in most cases. The second value is fairness because integrity is intact if you are honest anyway. I feel that when you are fair and just everyone will know you as an honest person without blemish. So, I try to be fair no matter the situation..  Explain what impact 2 specific ethical theories may have on your decision for the dilemma. The theories of consequential wherein the rightness or wrongness of a choice is based on the resulting consequence of an action. (Moore) I feel that this theory impacted my decision more so than any other as it coincides with the theory of human rights. (CRF, Fall 2006) Aquinas basically says all persons should live for goodness and avoid evil. I think that any healthcare personnel should live according to this edict of doing no harm and fulfilling the pledge to do good as it regards their patients. I think that helping the patient to retain her natural rights was an intrinsic good that could have easily been overlooked.  Explain what impact 2 specific ethical principles may have on your decision. The resident’s autonomy could not be overlooked in this situation as her mental capacity was not diminished or impaired in the slightest. I believe that every patient has the right to be involved in their care and all decisions therein that affect that care. The resident was being denied this right and her basic rights were being trampled and subjugated by others whose intent was not from a place of goodness. I also feel that honesty was not being practiced by those in charge as they were unwilling to listen to the patient and basically were ignoring her requests to use the telephone. Unfortunately, this is a far too common occurrence in the nursing home setting. I have seen this play out repeatedly over the last twenty-seven years but I always do what I believe is right on a case by case basis.  Explain how you could use this formal ethical problem-solving method to have a positive impact on future ethical decisions in the workplace. The ethical premise of following the natural law of rights helps one form a basis for making decisions from a place of goodness and concern for resident rights. I think this format allows those of us in healthcare to make sound decisions that are morally right and help to prevent errors against those who may not be able to speak for themselves. Advocating for others is a conceptual part of the healthcare system and should be an integrated part of future healthcare requirements. References Hittinger, R. (2006). Thomas Aquinas on natural law and the competence to judge. St. Thomas Aquinas and the Natural Law Tradition , 261–284. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt285340.20 https://www.crf-usa.org/bill-of-rights-in-action/bria-22-4-c-st-thomas-aquinas-natural-law- and-the-common-good#:~:text=The%20master%20principle%20of%20natural,the %20desire%20to%20know%20God .

The holy bible: Containing the old and new testaments ; translated out of the original tongues and with the former translations diligently compared and revised . (1986). . American Bible Society. Alexander, L., & Moore, M. (2020, October 30). Deontological ethics . Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-deontological/ Fiala, A., & MacKinnon, B. (2018). Ethics: Theory and contemporary issues . Wadsworth.

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Ethics Week 2 paper

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