medical ethics Flashcards
what is the doctrine of double effect?
you can do harm in the act of trying to do something good.
what are the 4 pillars of medical ethics?
beneficence
non-malevolence
autonomy
justice
what is the postcode lottery?
resources are allocated locally, funding gets given to a group of doctors who manage money for area. whether or not you get treatment depends on where you live-against justice
what are private finance initiatives and their effect?
private companies take responsibility for the financing, design, construction and maintenance of hospitals and other public services. they receive regular payments for many years afterwards, decades in fact-they get interest from the NHS. it takes debt off the state’s book officially, although the state still has to repay it. leading to hospitals looking really new and shiny but not being able to afford anything.
what doe sub contracting NHS services mean?
services are subcontracted to private health insurers/providers-private company builds tech, NHS pays for it.
what is gillick competence?
Gillick test’: children under 16 can consent if they have sufficient understanding and intelligence to fully understand what is involved in a proposed treatment, including its purpose, nature, likely effects and risks, chances of success and the availability of other options
what are the fraser guidelines?
specifically relate only to contraception and sexual health given to under 16 year olds without parental consent. that advice can be given in this situation as long as:
- He/she has sufficient maturity and intelligence to understand the nature and implications of the proposed treatment
- He/she cannot be persuaded to tell her parents or to allow the doctor to tell them
- He/she is very likely to begin or continue having sexual intercourse with or without contraceptive treatment
- His/her physical or mental health is likely to suffer unless he/she received the advice or treatment
- The advice or treatment is in the young person’s best interests.
whats an economic reason families may want euthanasia?
costs are paid for by the patient so the family would otherwise get the money, might have wills involved.
how is there a conflict of interest between gp surgeries and chronically ill patients?
GPs are funded per patient, not per treatment so the most profitable person is someone who’s never ill and the least profitable is a chronically ill person.
what is the ICD-10 criteria?
they classify known psychological disorders according to the number of criteria symptoms. if a patient fits one of the criteria they have that and so don’t have autonomy but if they don’t fit any it doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t have anything it could just be something else.