Current Ethical Dilemma in Health Care Essay

There are many types of ethical dilemmas that plague the medical field but never is a dilemma more important than when dealing with life and death. In situations such as these, one must follow their own moral compass. When the case involves an entire hospital going against their religious mandates for the life of a woman, the decision becomes that much more difficult. This paper will analyze the situation one Phoenix hospital found themselves in and the repercussions it suffered because of it decision. Current Ethical Dilemma in Health Care Essay Paper

St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona is a hospital internationally recognized for their neurology department. They have treated high profile patients such as Brett Michaels and Muhammad Ali, but neither has gained the hospital quite the publicity as a woman seeking treatment in November 2009. Alongside neurology, St. Joseph’s Hospital also has a noted obstetrics department and this is where the woman was treated. In late November 2009, a terminally ill woman came to the obstetrics unit suffering from pulmonary hypertension. Current Ethical Dilemma in Health Care Essay Paper

She was 11 weeks pregnant.

During the course of diagnosis, it was found that the pregnancy was exacerbating her illness by worsening her hypertension to the point of placing the patient in immediate danger of death. Doctors determined the only course of action to save the woman was to abort her pregnancy. With St. Joseph’s being a Catholic hospital, this decision went against their guidelines. The decision was taken before an ethics committee which decided to proceed with the procedure. The rationale for the committee’s choice was that they were seeking specifically “to save the woman’s life, not to end the pregnancy. (Clancy, 2010, p. 1) As a result of performing the procedure, the hospital was stripped of its Catholic status. The problem identified in this situation can be posed in one question; does the religious affiliation of a hospital have the right to dictate the care of a patient? Had the ethics committee gone the other way and decided not to abort the pregnancy, this would have prohibited the woman’s right to live. One should take into account that the patient sought treatment at a Catholic hospital and she should have been aware of their belief system. Current Ethical Dilemma in Health Care Essay Paper

However one doesn’t know if the patient came to this specific hospital because of its Catholic mission or whether she had no choice in the matter. In either case, is it not a hospitals first duty to provide the best care possible for their patients? The best care for this patient was to abort her pregnancy but the guidelines of the hospital would rather have seen the patient die trying to save both. My personal values and ethical position in this case lead me to side with the hospital. I have always been a proponent of the pro-life ideal and this instance is no exception.

The principles I advocate for the strongest are respect for the patients autonomy and beneficence. Keeping these principles in mind, the patient made an informed decision about her care and the hospital needed to respect that decision. As far as beneficence, the cost to benefit ratio was analyzed and a conclusion was reached that benefited the patient most. Utilitarianism is a theory I would apply to this case. Doing the greatest good for the greatest amount of people and saving those you can save. Current Ethical Dilemma in Health Care Essay Paper