This I Believe

1. I feel that paternalism is wrong. I understand that it is with good intentions such as laws

requiring seat belts, helmets and as it would relate to healthcare, even making some drugs illegal

for recreational use. The problem I have with it is people are going to do what they want and as

long as they aren’t impacting the safety and well-being of other people, why should we tell them

they can’t do something that could harm them?

2. Of course, I believe that people should tell the truth and also keep patient confidentiality

especially in the medical field. I believe that this would mostly be a conflict when working with a

patient that is allegedly involved in a crime. In my opinion, health care professionals need to

both sides of this field by being truthful and giving law enforcement all of the information

possible without breaking any sort of patient confidentiality.

3. In healthcare I feel that informed consent is an important ethical process to follow. Healthcare

providers need to have constant communication with their patients so that they not only fully

understand their diagnosis but also know what options they have for treatment. Sure, some

healthcare professionals may have a preferred treatment for certain diagnoses but they need to

communicate alternative treatments to the patient to ensure it fits their needs.

4. For thousands of years humans have conducted research on other human bodies to better

understand the human body. This research is what leads to medical advancements that will

ultimately save lives of other people and is an important part of our development as a society. I

will always hold the opinion that if people do not wish to have their body experimented on that

they should be granted that privacy. To me, when I’m gone it’s just a body and I’m all for leaving

it for medical research especially if it could lead to medical advancements.

5. Personally, I’m not for abortion but with that being said, I do not believe that anyone should get

to make that decision for others, especially our government. I will always believe that the baby
 deserves to be treated as a human at conception. I know one of the main arguments for people

that are pro-abortion is that “it’s just a clump of cells” but I disagree completely. We pronounce

people dead once they no longer have a heartbeat so couldn’t we presume that fetuses with

heartbeats are living people too? Again, I do not believe that anyone should get to tell other

women what they can or cannot do and the choice for abortion is 100% up to the mother.

6. Again, people should be afforded the right to do what they want with their body. Reproductive

technology has made some dramatic improvements recently and helped people who would have

otherwise never fulfilled the dream of having a family by becoming pregnant a possibility. I have

heard of people who do not believe in assisted reproductive techniques, but I don’t fully

understand why. To me, it’s yet another amazing medical advancement that improves the lives of

humans everyday and it should be hard to support that.

7. Genetic engineering is yet another technological advancement that provides great benefits to

people in my opinion. I think where this becomes a problem is if we make genetic modifications

to a human embryo, they don’t get a say in what possible side effects could transpire from the

modifications. While on the surface that particular modification would benefit the person, what

if they didn’t want it? Genetic engineering in humans is still relatively new but I would say there

are some great possible benefits from it in my opinion.

8. If the diagnosis is so severely painful and incurable but the patient has no way of consenting to

euthanasia, I would still say no. Some people regardless of pain or suffering still have a will to live

and even if there is a small chance that they could recover, they should be allowed to do so. I

could absolutely see how a medical professional that knows a person is suffering may want to

help in a way of “merciful release” but we should not do that without consent of the patient.

Now, I do believe that if a patient can consent and wishes to end their life via physician-assisted
 suicide, then they should get to do that if the physician is willing. I will always be for people’s

ability to choose what they feel is best for them as long as it only affects them.

9. As our world’s population continues to grow, we as a society will need to allocate scarce

resources, especially in medicine. Location, status, and ability to pay should never be a

consideration when distributing those valuable resources. I feel that it should always be

disturbed to those that need it most first and then I do believe that children should be next In

line for that care. Unfortunately, everything in today’s society revolves around money and those

with more of it will have access to these resources for them and their families first.

10. Considering the recent COVID-19 pandemic I would say that pandemic ethics are vital when

battling them. In the early months of Covid many people were listening to the CDC’s

recommendations of social distancing and masking but then people grew tired of the constant

change in advice and recommendations which led to people making decisions that could be

harmful to the rest of the world. Resource allocation becomes an ethical concern during

pandemics and one that we also ran into with the Covid-19 pandemic.

11. I wish that we lived in a perfect world where I could say that racial bias in healthcare doesn’t

exist, but the unfortunate truth is that it still does. I will always believe that everyone regardless

of race is entitled to the same quality of care as anybody else. Anyone with a different view

should not desire to work in healthcare. I feel that the majority of people in the healthcare

industry are in it to help people and there is likely very few that may have their own racial bias.