Ethical Decision-Making: the Grey Area When Pregnancy and Medical Conditions Collide
Abstract
Investigation of four case studies linked on the common ground of pregnancy, medical conditions affecting the fetus or mother and the decision to terminate pregnancy have been explored through various perspectives and avenues. The application of ethics throughout one’s daily life is essential; ensuring ethics of the highest standards are in place when dealing with the health, well-being and quality of an individual life are vital to render humanity. Discussed are concepts involving the quality of care an ethical doctor should provide, bioethical principals, ethics of abortion and a survey depicting results concerning doctor ethicality. Ethical and legal dilemmas concerning doctor and patient decisions are discussed in depth and compared to medical ethical values and laws. Analyzed are laws and terms applicable amidst such a discerning decision with many factors contributing to such a delicate situation.
Thesis:
Medicine and technology have advanced significantly in recent years; analyses of medical ethics and specific circumstances have led to questionable practice and dubious ethical dilemmas.
The decision to terminate a pregnancy, in most cases, can be attributed to the use of pre-natal diagnosis. Amniocentesis is used to indicate a fetal abnormality and the likelihood of severe handicap, in which case a mother may choose to terminate the pregnancy. This issue is not the issue at hand, however, this particular issue lies within cultures striving for a male dominated population using a medical procedure to discover the sex of an unborn child and aborting female fetus’. Discussed in detail will be specific events and laws regarding the abuse of amniocentesis. Along the same lines of antenatal diagnosis will be the case study involving six twin pregnancies discordant for fetal cardiac disease (Malhotra, Menahem, Shekleton, & Gillam, 2009). Medicine and technology have advanced significantly in recent years leading to the analysis of
Investigation of four case studies linked on the common ground of pregnancy, medical conditions affecting the fetus or mother and the decision to terminate pregnancy have been explored through various perspectives and avenues. The application of ethics throughout one’s daily life is essential; ensuring ethics of the highest standards are in place when dealing with the health, well-being and quality of an individual life are vital to render humanity. Discussed are concepts involving the quality of care an ethical doctor should provide, bioethical principals, ethics of abortion and a survey depicting results concerning doctor ethicality. Ethical and legal dilemmas concerning doctor and patient decisions are discussed in depth and compared to medical ethical values and laws. Analyzed are laws and terms applicable amidst such a discerning decision with many factors contributing to such a delicate situation.
Thesis:
Medicine and technology have advanced significantly in recent years; analyses of medical ethics and specific circumstances have led to questionable practice and dubious ethical dilemmas.
The decision to terminate a pregnancy, in most cases, can be attributed to the use of pre-natal diagnosis. Amniocentesis is used to indicate a fetal abnormality and the likelihood of severe handicap, in which case a mother may choose to terminate the pregnancy. This issue is not the issue at hand, however, this particular issue lies within cultures striving for a male dominated population using a medical procedure to discover the sex of an unborn child and aborting female fetus’. Discussed in detail will be specific events and laws regarding the abuse of amniocentesis. Along the same lines of antenatal diagnosis will be the case study involving six twin pregnancies discordant for fetal cardiac disease (Malhotra, Menahem, Shekleton, & Gillam, 2009). Medicine and technology have advanced significantly in recent years leading to the analysis of
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