⚕️ Essays on Medical Ethics

A set of guidelines called medical ethics applies moral standards to the conduct of clinical studies and therapeutic practices. It covers many topics, including end-of-life care, reproductive issues, and human subject research. The field is constantly evolving as our understanding of medical science grows.

Each day society grapples with new ethical dilemmas. As a result, when writing an essay on medical ethics, it can be challenging to know where to start. By studying the field, you will develop the ability to think critically about complicated moral issues and to communicate your ideas persuasively. Check out our essay samples on medical ethics to improve your paper and your ability to make sound decisions in your life.

Medical Ethics

Preferences for End-of-Life Care in Developed Countries

Introduction Introduction and Background of the Problem The twenty first century has seen tremendous improvements in medical science and health care in the society. This has been marked by discovery of new drugs and improvement of existing ones, together with adoption of new medical practices to care for patients. This...

Medical Ethics

Mississippi’s Women Undergoing Hysterectomies in Absence of Comprehensive Informed Consent Law

Problem Statement Twelve out of 10,000 women who undergo a hysterectomy die of complications arising from the procedure. Due to the high mortality associated with this procedure, women should only undergo hysterectomies in life-threatening cases like uncontrollable bleeding, complications arising from childbirth, and severe infections. Approximately 90% of hysterectomy cases...

Medical Ethics

Medical Practices and Ethical Implications

Researches and practices in the medical field unveil new drugs, forms of treatment, and disease prevention measures. The science behind the trial of new techniques in medical procedures, including the use of new drugs, encounters a lot of challenges today. Any discovery has to be tested to ascertain the impact...

Medical Ethics

Place and Dying: Home Versus Hospital

In this work, the advantages and disadvantages of places for the dying of ill people, precisely a home and a hospital, are considered. Dying is a physically and psychologically stressful process that significantly affects both a terminally ill person and his or her family and loved ones. In addition, the...

Medical Ethics

Opioid Dependence in Chronic Pain Patients

In the United States, the number of opioid abusers is approximately 2.5 million people, and it has been constantly growing within recent decades, as the number of new abusers grew by a striking 225 percent between 1992 and 2000 (Lembke, 2012). Opioid abusers are people who consume opioids in dangerous...

Medical Ethics

The Preparedness of the Mental Health Counselor

Introduction This paper is aimed at discussing the practices of counselors who are specialized in working with people struggling with various disabilities. These days, in the United States, about 50 million people suffer from some physical or mental problems (Cornish et al. 488). Many of them may require the services...

Medical Ethics

Physician-Assisted Suicide: A Challenge for Living

Introduction Physician assisted suicide refers to the act of providing information to a competent patient with a sole purpose of assisting the patient end his or her life. The physician administers equipment or prescription for medication at the request of the patient with an intention of ending the patient’s life....

Medical Ethics

Bioethics of Organ Donors and Transplant Trade

Introduction / Background In the recent period, the science of transplantation has become a unique treatment approach for the potential life threatening complications. As it involves the surgical replacement of body parts with the functionally superior ones, the major task since the past decade has been to procure significant number...

Medical Ethics

Medical Psychology: Ethics of Professional Practice

Introduction Ethical issues mainly refer to what is right and good in a society. It deals with learning virtues and vices in a society. The society acts as a determiner or rather the judge determining the good and right doings of an individual. Once an individual learns the ethnics of...

Medical Ethics

Abortion Is Not Morally Correct

Abortion is morally wrong and the members of society do not seem to agree with this statement. This is because the philosophers have not done enough to convince the people that the act is morally wrong. Philosophers have moved to the secular world and they give support to what the...

Medical Ethics

Abortion: Pro-Life Position.

Introduction Abortion is a controversial topic because it deals with the question of human life and death. There are no contemporary ethical issues so emotionally charged and inviting of public, political, legal and moral controversy as those involving matters of life and death. Abortion is one such ethical issue and...

Medical Ethics

Abortion: Controversial Thoughts Analysis

Abortion has developed into a very controversial topic over these past few decades. Abortion is defined as “the expulsion of a fetus from the uterus before it has reached the stage of viability, in human beings, usually about the 20th week of gestation. An abortion may occur unexpectedly, in which...

Medical Ethics

Personal and Organizational Ethics

Introduction In a rather busy hospital near a slum, I work as medical personnel. Numerous patients report to the hospital day in day out. Various conditions are presented including serious illnesses that require dedicated attention on the patient besides carrying out a follow-up on the progress. Professional ethics At work,...

Medical Ethics

Euthanasia: Ethical Issue, Reasons for and Against Euthanasia

Reasons against Euthanasia Several people have argued for the legalization of euthanasia which very few countries in the world have done. The question that keeps coming up in this debate is that is euthanasia suicidal or is it murder. The law states that suicide is legal and murder is illegal....

Medical Ethics

Ethical Standards in American Health Care Delivery

Abstract summary Ethics is defined as the norms or standards of behavior that guide moral choices about the conduct of the personnel in any organization and this case we will therefore be able to look at the conduct of the doctors in relation with their patients. From this study we...

Medical Ethics

Christian Beliefs and Moral Status of an Ill Fetus

Introduction The case study highlights how Christian beliefs and medical ethics determine the moral status of a fetus. In the case study, preliminary diagnosis outcomes show the fetus has a rare development condition because it has no arms, and prognosis indicates the probable occurrence of Down syndrome. In this view,...

Medical Ethics

Palliative and End of Life Care and Regulations

End-of-life care pertains to the regulation of an individual’s immediate environment by implementing measures that would augment the level of care to the individual as he approaches death. End-of-life care may not be defined by a specific duration but through the kind of care that is provided to an individual....

Medical Ethics

Physician Assisted Suicide: Ethical Issues

Introduction If you were terminally ill, and knew one was only to get worse, would one not rather have a quick, easy and painless death in a manner and at a time of one’s own choice for which one could be fully prepared than a few more weeks, months or...

Medical Ethics

Stem Cell Research Should Be Encouraged

Stem cells are the basic units from which the entire body of a human being develops. In other words, these are a group of cells from which all 210 diverse types of tissue such as muscle cells, blood cells, nerve cells, and even new teeth in the human body originate...

Medical Ethics

Physician-Assisted Suicide and Other Options

The debate over Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS) is complex and contentious. Since ancient times, there have been arguments about the permissibility of suicide, assisted suicide, and physician-assisted suicide. (Kopelman, DeVille, pp 1). The discussions have covered the properly legal, ethical, or professional response of the people who feel that they are...

Medical Ethics

Legal Abortion Worldwide: Incidence and Trends

Introduction One of the most primary preferences in life is whether a couple wants to have offspring. This choice obliges many females who are not prepared to have children to face the verdict of abortion. Abortion is an appealing subject because it entails consequences that are societal, religious, political, lawful,...

Medical Ethics

Ethical Quandaries and Legal Considerations in Practicing Physician-Assisted Suicide

The idea of physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia raises a number and disputes and disagreements in regards to whether a person or their immediate family members should have the right to choose medically aided death. As it stands, current clinical practice, ethical, and legal practices leave decisions regarding medically assisted death...

Medical Ethics

Ethics in Healthcare Interview

Health care professionals experience different ethical dilemmas and challenges that can affect their aims. Caregivers, physicians, and clinicians who are aware of such issues can find it easier to implement evidence-based measures to overcome them. This paper gives a detailed analysis and description of the responses gained after interviewing a...

Medical Ethics

Ethical Situation Related to the Division of Family and Children Services of Georgia

The Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) of Georgia is responsible for providing support and assistance for children in need living in the state while following the legal norms and standards. It is important to analyze an ethical situation related to the DFCS’s activities according to the ETHIC Decision-Making...

Medical Ethics

Embryonic Stem Cells in Medical Research

Introduction Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) hold an enormous amount of potential to unlock many mysteries of the human body, as well as treat or prevent illnesses. Yet, despite the potential benefits of studying this issue, there is strong opposition to it. The primary argument against hESC research is that...

Medical Ethics

Stem Cell Research: Opponents and Supporters

Introduction According to Mike Pence (n.d.), “adult stem cell research has produced some 67 medical miracles” over the last couple of years. The method is derived from the usage of cells retrieved from embryos that are in the capacity of forming one of the different types of tissues in the...

Medical Ethics

Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia as Ethical Issues

Introduction The debates regarding euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide continue to take different shapes or routes. There are professionals and stakeholders who support these practices while others condemn them. The nature of such arguments hold implications for the achievements and procedures medical practitioners require to provide critical care. This paper describes...

Medical Ethics

Occupational Therapy from the Christian Standpoint

Introduction Occupational therapy (OT) is a practice that implies the use of multiple assessment methods and interventions for developing, recovering, and maintaining meaningful activities for work among individuals, groups, and even communities. Those who required occupational therapy have usually undergone illness, injury, or have developed a disability that prevents them...

Medical Ethics

Abortions in Australia’s Media

Introduction Abortion is a medical term that describes the termination of pregnancy. The issue of reporting activist actions and legal acts that aim to change abortion regulation is complex since this topic is controversial. Some people advocate for a woman’s right to make conscious decisions regarding her pregnancy, while others...

Medical Ethics

Cultural Attitudes and Values in Healthcare

Introduction Human beings belong to specific cultural groups, religions, and societies that promote unique values and attitudes. These attributes influence the thoughts patients to develop throughout the care delivery process. People from different regions or races will consider specific principles that inform their decisions regarding the effectiveness of various clinical...

Medical Ethics

Prescribing Drugs: Ethical and Legal Implications

Errors and accidents can happen in virtually any type of workplace. However, in the field of healthcare, a wrong action may lead to devastating outcomes, damaging patients or workers’ well-being. Thus, all medical professionals need to understand that the process of error reporting is an essential part of their practice...

Medical Ethics

Medication Error Disclosure: Ethics and Legalities

Introduction Nurses can make errors during their practice for different reasons – the lack of attention or time, tiredness, and stress. These mistakes can be small or substantial, potentially affecting patient’s health and hurting their well-being. Thus, if a nurse makes a mistake, their following actions are significant in resolving...

Medical Ethics

Should Human Organs Be Legally Sold?

Discussions about whether or not the implementation of the legal market of human organs should take place have a considerable number of involved scholars and stakeholders. Scholars’ works cover a plethora of aspects within the scope of the issue. However, there is a distinguishable split in the academic dimension about...

Medical Ethics

Conscientious Objective in Medical Practice

Introduction The article, “Why Medical Professionals have no Moral Claim to Conscientious Objection Accommodation in Liberal Democracies” by Udo Schuklenk and Ricardo Smalling presents critical arguments that different stakeholders in the field of medicine should examine from an informed perspective. The authors begin by explaining why clinicians should be aware...

Medical Ethics

Informed Consent in Counseling

Introduction Counseling is associated with various ethical issues that may lead to adverse effects for the client, the counselor, or a third party. Informed consent is often regarded as a method to address many problems closely linked to such areas as confidentiality, clients’ safety, and well-being, as well as other...

Medical Ethics

Caretakers’ Attitude Towards Euthanasia

Introduction to the client situation Borrowing from the film The Suicide Tourist, one of the hardest things to do is to counsel a terminally ill patient. As Dierickx, Deliens, Cohen, and Chambaere (2017) note, many terminally ill patients often request to be euthanized. Many US states do not allow euthanasia...

Medical Ethics

Parent Refusal of Life-Saving Treatments

Family plays an important role in every aspect of a person’s life including healthcare. On the one hand, the family can provide the necessary support for patients and have a positive impact on treatment compliance, which is frequently used as a tool of impact on the patients’ decision by healthcare...

Medical Ethics

The Ethics of Abortion

Introduction Abortion is a controversial topic in numerous parts of the world. Concerns exist over the procedure’s safety and potential risks, but they are not significant enough to affect its popularity or legality noticeably. Most of the world’s governments, including that of the United States, permit the performance of the...

Medical Ethics

Ethical Decision-Making: “Do Not Resuscitate” Tattoo

The identified case involves a patient who has a “Do Not Resuscitate” tattoo. The 70-year old individual has a history of atrial fibrillation, diabetes mellitus, and obstructive pulmonary disease. The efforts practitioners undertook to increase his consciousness level were unsuccessful, thereby being unable to engage in meaningful discussions regarding the...

Medical Ethics

Abortion: Medical Ethics and Criminalization

The debate around abortion and its legal and ethical properties have been dominating the spheres of medicine and law for many decades. The supporters of abortion legalization refer to the omnipresence of such procedures in all countries regardless of their legality, and the illegal methods of pregnancy termination are hazardous....

Medical Ethics

Beneficence in Medicine and Healthcare

The term beneficence implies all forms of actions aiming at contributing to persons’ welfare. The principles of beneficence appear to be different from those of nonmaleficence. Beneficence requires taking positive actions to help others, whereas nonmaleficence means avoidance of causing harm. It is also necessary to differentiate the concept of...

Medical Ethics

Nonmaleficence as a Medical Ethics Consideration

Medical practice includes some issues that concern professional and other responsibilities, for instance, adherence to medical ethics. Those duties that the healthcare sector employees are to perform imply following the standards of assistance to the population while taking into account certain norms and principles, one of which is the concept...

Medical Ethics

“The Wounded Storyteller: Body, Illness, and Ethics” by Frank

Most people who are suddenly faced with a serious illness find themselves completely unprepared, and they do not know how to go on with their lives. The Wounded Storyteller by Arthur Frank is a book that uses the author’s personal experience with cancer and heart disease to show a different...

Medical Ethics

Chapter 4 of “Principles of Biomedical Ethics” by Beauchamp & Childress

Autonomy in biomedical research and medicine is a key ethical principle that should be considered by patients, participants of studies, and medical workers. This is important because, in some cases, individuals have less autonomy that needs an in-depth examination. Respect for an individual’s freedom requires one to accept the right...

Medical Ethics

Patient Autonomy and Its Principles

Introduction Respect for autonomy is among the primary moral principles governing medical research and decision-making in healthcare. Autonomy is defined as the freedom to work following a self-established plan. This paper seeks to comprehensively summarize the concept of autonomy in healthcare and research and identify the factors affecting it. The...

Medical Ethics

Euthanasia Legalization and Government Involvement

Introduction Issues associated with death are usually emotive and controversial. Both physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia are pursued with the aim of relieving terminal pain or suffering. Individuals suffering from various conditions such as cancer tend to be in need of high-quality palliative care. Opioids are usually prescribed to minimize various...

Medical Ethics

Nursing Ethics and Behavior in Social Media

Social media offers a convenient platform where people can connect with friends and family. It also makes the world a global village where people enjoy interconnectedness regardless of time and space. In learning, students can communicate easily with each other and discuss important issues concerning their education (Tuckett & Turner,...

Medical Ethics

Ethics in Health Administration

Sometimes, professionals and administrators in different fields need to have a distinction between ethics and codes of conduct during the conduct of their work. Codes of ethics are very vital in a situation such as health administration where much could go awry if proper morals and codes of conduct are...

Medical Ethics

Abortion: Arguments for the Defense

Proposal In this paper, I will argue that abortion is morally permissible and the argument on the immorality of abortion is essentially untenable. The essay will utilize the views of several authors who have contributed to the topic in the recent past. Most of these views are published in books...

Medical Ethics

Ethical Issues in Healthcare Management

Introduction The institutionalization of healthcare is a major source of ethical conflicts. When looking at ethics, we consider the question; what do we owe to the other person? Today, healthcare management is an arrangement among the following groups: consumers or the patients, the providers who are the physicians and other...

Medical Ethics

Euthanasia: An Ethical Issue

Summary The video Euthanasia considers the ethical issue from the point of view of the law, ethics, religion, and philosophy. It does not appear to take a stance, but it portrays euthanasia as a phenomenon that is unlikely to disappear. The film offers a comprehensive overview of various attitudes as...

Medical Ethics

Assisted Suicide and Reasons Against It

Introduction Assisted suicide denotes measures by which a person or a group of people assist another person to voluntary bring about his or her own death. It may also describe how a doctor helps a terminally ill person to die. Assisted suicide In many cultures, suicide has remained the best...

Medical Ethics

Embryonic Cloning Controversy

Introduction The cloning process is a successful scientific practice especially when scientists in Scotland managed to clone a mammal. Indeed, the process is simple that provided a possibility to clone a human being. Nevertheless, there have been ethical issues concerning whether human cloning could be officially authorized or not. Moreover,...

Medical Ethics

Medical Ethics and Values in Workplace

Ethics in Your Work Place Ethics refers to the code of conduct that governs the activities or behavior of professionals in a given field or employees in a given organization (Seth, 2010). The code of conduct is usually set by the organization or the regulating body in the profession. Ethics...

Medical Ethics

Medication Error Disclosure in South Carolina

Medication errors are the medical errors related to prescription of drugs and other medications. Despite many interventions aimed at reducing their incidence in diverse settings, medication errors are still a burden to health care. However, the majority of adverse events related to medication errors can be prevented in case of...

Medical Ethics

Patient Autonomy vs. Beneficence Principle Dilemma

The nursing practice is guided by strict codes of ethics which promote beneficence and protect the patient. These standards, often legally supported, provide a framework which the nurses use to provide ethical and professional care. However, the complexities of the healthcare system and patient demands may create morally ambiguous situations...

Medical Ethics

Nursing Leaders as Change Agents in Healthcare

Introduction Ross, Fitzpatrick, Click, Krouse, and Clavelle (2014) point out that there is a need for resilient and proficient nursing leadership that fosters organizational and personal change. Nurses’ role in making ethical, legal, and moral decisions is crucial as they are the first people with whom individuals can discuss their...

Medical Ethics

Ethical, Moral, and Legal Frameworks in Medicine

Introduction Ethics in medical professionals is guided by different standards. These principles include justice, beneficence, and autonomy. The widely used conceptual framework is that of utilitarianism (Cherkowski, Walker, & Kutsyuruba, 2015). This moral law dictates that good actions are the ones that maximize happiness. The above principles will also be...

Medical Ethics

Ethical Dilemma and Racism in Healthcare Leadership

Introduction The use of appropriate leadership strategies delivers desirable results promptly. Different theoretical concepts in organizational leadership support the power of ethical, moral, and legal practices. Ethical and moral standards in an organization foster evidence-based practices such as collaboration, teamwork, and support (Ericsson & Augustinsson, 2015). The targeted legal standards...

Medical Ethics

Moral Dilemmas and Ethical Decisions

Introduction Emergencies often require timely and valid decisions to prevent the apparent risk to patient health, including death. However, the policies and protocols intended to systematize the decision-making process often create complex ethical and moral issues. The following paper highlights the ethical issues in the emergency setting and outlines the...