A TV talk show complains about silence doctors. A magazine offers advice on getting the most from your HMO as if readers must be on the lookout against becoming a victim. These days managed care seems to tilt from one negative news report to the next. Managed Care was once seen as a well-organized approach to supporting health care value while restraining costs in the United States. In recent years patients started to look into other directions, since predictions for limiting expenses faded.
“Many physicians say they would be clouding their roles as healers if they helped patients to die” (Buchanan 36.) Physicians even take the Hippocratic Oath, which states that “a physician promises to help the sick and never to cause harm” (Buchanan 36.) As Daniel E. Lee, a reporter for the Hastings Center, says “Meaning and hope are possible in all of life’s situations, even in the midst of suffering” (17.) If the United States were to nationally legalize assisted suicide, it would be a disaster, not only because the way it would go against our morals, but the way it would negatively effect today’s society. “Janet, Sherry , Marjorie, and Susan were not terminal by accepted medical definition…[they] were not Kevorkian’s patients in any traditional sense.
America has their reservations that a universal health may not work because of its lack of choices and freedoms. There are pros and cons to having a universal health care system. For one, a universal health care offers free health services to people that cannot afford health care the services they need. The cons, is that a universal health care system often results in long wait times for patients and not everyone may receive the type of care that they need. The rising cost of health care has cause the government to step in and control regulations and spending; thus creating a health care reform system.
If a patient needs treatment but they are not covered, that may motivate a counselor to place an incorrect billing code on an invoice to get paid for an non-covered service. While the counselor may believe this to be the best thing for the client, it is not ethically or legally allowed. This behavior actually hurts the industry as more regulation will be placed upon the counselor who will have to take more time to prove their compliance. That time they are using to prove compliance is time they are not seeing clients or generating revenue. One aspect of counseling that is very helpful is the licensure that is granted to counselors by the state.
The first dilemma involves the doctors of Health Net i.e. Dr Gupta, Dr. Schinke and Dr. McMillan wherein they have an interest in keeping the costs per patient within the capitation fee so that they can either earn extra income or avoid having to pay money to cover the extra costs above the capitation fee, while on the other hand they have a duty as doctors to provide the best possible treatment that gives Christy a chance to overcome her illness regardless of the costs involved. The second dilemma involves UCLA Medical Clinic’s Cancer unit who could possibly lose an extremely profitable business relationship with Health Net thus putting them in a financial crisis if they allowed the transplant to occur but on the other hand they had already agreed to give Christy a transplant and not doing so under pressure from Health Net would be immoral and could possibly open them to a potential lawsuit by Christy and her family. Common Sense Morality: With regards to Health Net and some of their doctors like Dr. Gupta and Dr. McMillan, they have certainly violated the ideals of ‘Common Sense’ morality which consists of being honest, fair and doing no harm to the parties involved. They were not honest to Christy when they deemed her treatment to be “Investigational” whereas it was a pretense to keeping their costs below the capitation fee since the bone marrow transplant would cost $100,000.
The waters become murky, however, when one takes into account the amount of resources allocated to providing some services or procedures to certain patients. In Plato’s argument, he asserts that essentially, healthcare should be served in a manner that reflects the interests of the greater good. At what point does the greater good become more important than an individual though? Dr. Craig Wax asserts that in Plato’s society “physicians responded to the needs of the state by devoting resources to the workers, in the process ignoring the elderly, very young, critically ill, and those who were considered genetically inferior. Such practices can lead to vile immorality and atrocities.” By all accounts, empathy is one of the most important qualities in a humane society.
Advance directive laws merely give doctors and others immunity if they follow it, the only reliable strategy is to discuss your values and wishes with your healthcare providers ahead of time to make sure they are clear about what you want. Although, a doctor can be held liable in a court of law for not following those orders. There is a limited amount of time in which a patient can make a medical malpractice claim. The statute of limitations for these claims may vary by each state. Life and Death Issues in Healthcare A Review of the Case Study During a scheduled appointment a patient is given the unfortunate diagnosis of colon cancer.
There are a lot of pros and cons of pay-for-performance in health care (see appendix for charts.) the chart will show what people think about pay-for-performance and the good they think it does for the health care system but it also shows the cons what people think is wrong with the pay-for-performance program. However, many are not satisfied by pay-for-performance including congress who are not on board with the Medicare reimbursement because the policy relies on the evidence-based medicine it is used to developed a “clinical practice guidelines and compensate health care providers according to their compliance with the best practices dictated by a
I do believe rationing should be used throughout our country. We have so much waste in our country at this time. If we stop wasting so much money in this medical industry, we could pay for care for those who do not even have insurance. I think educating families about end of life care is completely necessary. We waste huge amounts of dollars on end of life care, knowing the statistical outcome.
It seems today that more problems arise from taking prescription drugs. Do we really need the drugs that doctors prescribe? As Americans we take life for granted by rushing around with what we call life. Career, kids, marriage; all can take a toll on our physical and mental health. Drugs should not be the answer to every problem.