Research and Describe Importance of Ethics in Healthcare (Term Paper Sample)

Ethics in Health Care
Name
Institution
Date Ethics in Health Care
Ethics are standards that exist to guide in decision making and to regulate people's course of action when faced with dilemmas. The situation is severe in health care since practitioners, families and patients often encounter obstacles that need control of professional guidelines as opposed to personal opinions or preferences. The relevance of ethics in health care is to help the parties involved to act well, reasonably and make morally right choices while considering values about life and health (Percival, 2014). Consequently, the medical treatments that patients receive are just and done according to what is good of all while avoiding unnecessary pitfalls.
Health care ethics arise to answer the difficult questions that exist in the medical field. As doctors, nurses and related professionals work, they come across situations where disagreements on treatments evolve and the best decision about the patient is critically needed. Such cases include starting and stopping of breathing machines or feeding tubes, deciding on behalf of patients who cannot express themselves such as the insane or children and what the patients can do if they are not allowed to participate in their health care decisions. So, ethics as professional guidelines ensure a consultative instrument that professionals can refer when faced with treatment dilemmas.
Ethics in health care clarify the options, recommend what to do in case of an ethical issue, and give a better balance between possible cure (Callahan & Lawler, 2012). However, to act as deserved, some core values regulate treatment options. The first value involves the professional obligation to act independently and ignore the patient's control by their cultures which can hamper proper treatment. Other principles include refraining from causing harm by prohibiting killing, patients' suffering and incapacitation (Percival, 2014). Above all, health professionals must promote patients' welfare and treat every patient as an individual.
Ethics prevents the breach of confidentiality. When people interact, it is highly likely that they will know important information about one another. Close interaction takes place in health care though the information is critical because doctors care about patients' wellbeing which is highly private. However, medical practitioners are also human, and regulation is thus essential. A perfect example involves the Hippocratic Oath that no one should violate. Moreover, breaching confidentiality is severely punished and risks a doctor's reputation. Disclosure of information is a severe medical crime and the existence of a code of ethics, adherence and modeling ensure no medical information is revealed hence increased trust and improved doctor-patient relationships (Percival, 2014).
Additionally, standards help in making right decisions and informed consent. With no doubt, during inquiry and treatment procedures, doctors often come across a lot of patient's information which even a patient does not know. In such a case, informed consent ensures that physicians only give the ill the necessary information and in the way that he or she understands (British Me...