Healthcare Ethical Dilemmas

Introduction
The ethical dilemma discussed in this paper involves decision making on whether to perform euthanasia on a breast cancer patient who is at the metastatic stage. The patient was requesting the physicians to perform euthanasia on her given the deteriorating quality of her life and the pain she experienced. There were conflicting ethical principles in this issue which made the situation a typical moral dilemma. If the physicians upheld the principle of autonomy, they were bound to perform euthanasia on the patient (Beauchamp & Childress, 2013). On the other hand, by respecting the principles of beneficence and nonmaleficence, the physicians could find alternative ways of alleviating the patient from the pain without causing harm to the patient. Euthanasia being a way of ending a patient’s life can be termed as a form of harm. This paper will describe the model used in decision making in this ethical dilemma briefly. The paper will also discuss the various options that were available for dealing with this ethical dilemma and finally it will highlight how the issue was resolved. The aim of this article is to provide insight on how ethical dilemmas can be addressed in healthcare.
The Decision-Making Model Applied in this Ethical Dilemma
The model applied in decision making in relation to this moral dilemma is the reflective equilibrium model. When using this model, the first step involves identifying one’s original stand. The next step involves identifying one’s personal beliefs and trying to justify these beliefs using the existing principles and the set moral values. This process involves a series of procedures aimed at defending an individual’s first stand (Campbell, 2013). The advantages and disadvantages of each possible course of action are analyzed. The decision arrived at is the one whose advantages outweighs the disadvantages and is in line with the decision maker’s personal intuition. An individual applying this decision-making model applies the underlying principles to convince himself/herself and others that the decision made is the most appropriate given the other available options. This model was implemented in decision making regarding the ethical dilemma discussed above on whether to perform euthanasia on the patient or not.
The Decision Making Process
The reflective equilibrium model was applied as a framework for solving the ethical dilemma on whether to perform euthanasia on the cancer patient or not. Different physicians held different intuitions. Some physicians were for the idea of performing euthanasia on the patient while some were against this move. Every medical practitioner’s initial stand was analysed based on the underlying ethical principles and moral values so as to identify the best course of action (Campbell, 2013). Various ethical principles were examined in the process of trying to justify every individual’s initial stand. The principle of autonomy was in favor of the physicians who advocated performing euthanasia on the patient. However, the principles of beneficence and nonmaleficence were in favor of the doctors who preferred other available alternatives of alleviating the pain of the patient other than performing euthanasia. Due to the conflicting nature of the ethical principles, the physicians applied different moral theories to analyze the ethical dilemma (Campbell, 2013). The final decision arrived at would be one that had the most advantages and one that would be easily justified based on the moral theories and the ethical principles.
The Options Available for Dealing with the Ethical Dilemma
In this ethical dilemma, there were two main options for solving the issue. The first choice was to perform euthanasia on the patient. The physicians could take this option while trying to respect the patient’s autonomy while at the same time aiming at alleviating the patient from the pain she was experiencing (Beauchamp & Childress, 2013). This would, however, be against the moral duty of the physicians which is to preserve life. The second option was to go against the patient’s will and fail to perform euthanasia on her. By taking this option, the physicians would offer the patient palliative care to alleviate her suffering while at the same time preserving her life. This option is in line with the principles of beneficence and nonmaleficence. It, however, violates the ethical principle of autonomy.
How the Dilemma was Resolved
This ethical dilemma was settled by an ethics committee composing of the hospital’s practitioners and some community members. By applying the reflective equilibrium model as a framework in the decision-making process, the best course of action was found to be providing palliative care to the patient. Hospice care was the specific palliative care that would be offered to the patient. This would involve caring for the patient to relieve her physical pain and emotional distress (Morden et al., 2012).
Conclusion
This paper has provided a comprehensive summary of the process used to solve a typical ethical dilemma in a healthcare setting. The article has presented an overview of the ethical dilemma in this case scenario, and it has discussed the options available for solving the ethical issue. The paper has provided insight on how physicians should deal with ethical dilemmas by analyzing the procedure followed to arrive at the best course of action in this case scenario.
 
References
Beauchamp, T. L., & Childress, J. F. (2013). Principles of biomedical ethics (7th ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Campbell, R. (2013). Reflective Equilibrium and Moral Consistency Reasoning. Australasian Journal of Philosophy, vol. (92), no. (3), pp. (433-451). http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00048402.2013.833643
Morden, N., Chang, C., Jacobson, J., Berke, E., Bynum, J., Murray, K., & Goodman, D. (2012). End-Of-Life Care for Medicare Beneficiaries with Cancer Is Highly Intensive Overall and Varies Widely. Health Affairs, vol. (31), no. (4), pp. (786-796). http://dx.doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2011.0650