Ethics in health and social care

What is Ethnic? Ethnics At its simplest, ethics are a system of moral principles, a philosophy dealing with right and wrong. They affect how people make decisions and lead their lives it’s a personal beliefs, principles and non-maleficence. Some people thought that ethical problems could be solved in one of two ways which could be by discovering what God wanted people to do or by thinking rigorously about moral principles and problems. They infuse debates on topics like abortion, human rights and professional conduct.

There are several ethics principle which include autonomy, beneficence,non-malefience and trustworthy. I will give brief summary of what BACP say about these principles and also explain how these principles provide support.

According to the BACP Non-maleficence means to cause no harm. It is also a commitment to avoiding harm to the client .in a care home situation staff would need to be trained properly to avoid abuse. They can do this by making sure CRB is checked as well as making sure staff attends the course. They can also provide training regularly to make staff do not forget what their responsibities are.

If any abuse is suspected in a care home for example, if a client on wheelchair is constipated and needs help to use the toilet but care worker ignored clients because they can’t be bothered anymore such practice could make client feel sad likewise cause more illness, damage to client, such practice should be reported immediately because ‘Practitioners should be willing to be accountable to their clients’ this would protect clients from harm.

Therfore staff should make sure risk assessment is carried out before any activities this would ensure that clients are not at risk because risk assessment has been carried out to reduce risks all this would incorporate non-maleficence.above all as a professional you should promote the rights,choice,wellbeing of an individual.

Beneficence: ‘beneficence means acting in the best interests of the client based on professional Assessment ‘basically acting in a way that benefits service users therefore it is important to respect and listen to client. For instance if a service user prefers to take tablets instead of injection, professionals should be able to act in a way that would benefits the service user by giving her tablets instead of forcing her to have injections however there are several ways medication could be pass to the body so if injection cannot be offered professionals should be able to give options on other ways clients could take their medication.

Trustworthy:Being trustworthy is regarded as fundamental to understanding and resolving ethical issues therefore professional needs to honour their agreements and promises and make sure all clients needs and want are met. Professionals are encouraged to keep appropriate records of their work with clients unless there are adequate reasons for not keeping any records.

All records should be accurate, respectful, and truthful of clients and colleagues and protected from unauthorised disclosure. For example if client hasn’t received their medication for a while but it says in the record their have received it then the record i not accurate and could cause confusions as well as client could feel they are not taking his/her health serious which could upset client. Trustworthy This is very crucial in health and social setting and when planning support because If the professional is trusted by the client, client would feel comfortable and would be able to speak out about problems more often.

Justice: means that everyone must be treated equally also requires being just and fair to all clients and respecting their human rights and dignity no matter what their background which include culture, religion, sex orientation, sexuality, race etc therefore no one should be treated differently because of the background they come from. Professionals should be committed to equality of opportunity, and avoiding discrimination against people.

For instance in a health and social care setting if care worker decided not to attend to Mr. khan because he is Asian therefore she doesn’t want nothing to do with him because of his background such practice is race discrimination and shouldn’t not be allowed as it could make Mr. khan feel unwanted likewise it could lower his self esteem, which could make other service user not doesn’t nothing to do with Mr. khan as well because they have seen how his been treated by care worker.

Autonomy: Autonomy is promoting the independence of a client and giving them all the self determination possible as well as respecting a person’s choice. It gives the right to be able to do what you like, freedom of speech, understanding individual’s view and helping to understand situation better and have your own say about things going on around you. It’s important when planning support as the client’s independence promotes the life they live. It enables service users to have freedom of speech and make their own choice. E.g. if Mrs. smith prefers Jane(care worker ) to dress her up then she is entitled to making her own decision because it could be that she feel more comfortable when Jane is around here.

Ethical Dilemma

An ethical dilemma is a debate between two moral principles, where two sides can argue about what is wrong or what is right. However, there is no real answer to an ethical dilemma therefore where there is ethics there is always dilemmas.

Firstly you think deeply about the dilemma as it could include taking someone’s life away, then you will think about who will be helped by what you’re doing ,who will get hurt about your final decision as well as who will it benefits . Secondly, this is where you consider looking completely from different perspective not your own, think about what others might say or feel likewise talk about it to other professionals and family to make sure you do not discriminate against moral principles like fairness, equality, respecting the dignity of others involved. However it’s a ethical dilemma it could lead to conflict so you have to balance the rights of both side so therefore you then take both parts of your analysis into account and make a decision based on everything you have researched.

Example 1: Abortion is an ethical dilemma. Some people are pro-abortion while others are strictly against it, it could be because of how they are raised,belief,culture,background etc. for instance if Mr&Mrs hall are a married couple but there are not ready to have children for financial reasons and wants abortion, whereas the doctor is strictly against abortion and refuse to process the situation because of her belief that abortion is like “taking another person’s life” therefore the situation as become an ethical dilemma.

Example 2.: Service user that has been in comma for several years and nothing’s changed, the ethical dilemma would be maybe e to remove service user out of coma as its just taking a lot of money and clients is still in pain, whereas the service user only daughter want to keep her mother because she doesn’t want her to die and wants to be able to see and touch her every day. This would lead to an ethical dilemma between doctors, the care company as well as the daughter.