HEALTHCARE ETHICS (BIOETHICS)

THE CALLING OF THE HEALTH

CARE PROVIDER
COURSE PACKET 3
MIDTERM PERIOD

OUTLINE this book; the following virtues are discussed in the context of the
A. INTRODUCTION healthcare profession: fidelity, honesty, integrity, humility, respect,
I. THE HEALTHCARE PROFESSION compassion, prudence, and courage. These are certain qualities that fit
II. THE CLIENT and are deemed proper to the healthcare profession.
III. THE HEALTHCARE PROVIDER
IV. HEALTHCARE PROVIDER- CLIENT HEALTHCARE PROVIDER- CLIENT RELATIONSHIP
RELATIONSHIP The relationship is seen as fiduciary, meaning that it is based on
trust. The patient trusts the provider with his or her healthcare and the
INTRODUCTION provider is expected to fulfill certain duties toward the patient. Obligations
toward patients include: Technical competence in the provider's area of
THE HEALTHCARE PROFESSION expertise.

The healthcare profession is one that belongs to the ambiance

of professional ethics. It is not, therefore, identified with morality as such.
“A code of morals is more universal and fundamental than a code of
professional ethics. Morality deals with what is right or wrong for the
person as an individual. On the contrary, professional ethics pertains to
what is right or wrong for a person as a member of a certain professional
or social group like as a nurse, a physician, a lawyer, an accountant, a
law enforcer, a jurist, a cleric, and the like. In this regard, the norms that
healthcare professionals are required to obey and respect are those that
regulate their actuations, decisions, and responsibilities in the context of
health. For purposes of this book, nurses are given more attention with
regards to their task, duties, and responsibilities as healthcare
professionals. As earlier presented, the healthcare profession is well
represented by physicians, nurses, medical technologists, dieticians,
medical laboratory technicians, as well as sociologists, historians,
politicians, scientists, philosophers, lawyers, economists, theologians,
psychologists, and anthropologists.

THE CLIENT
The Client (whether in the hospital or community) is the summit of
the meaning of the healthcare profession. He / She justifies the quiddity
of the healthcare professional. Arguing from the auspices of binaries,
without the client, the healthcare provider will lose the very essence of
his/her profession.
Even human being who becomes ill is somebody whom any
healthcare provider is morally obligated to care for. This means that the
healthcare profession cuts across race, religion, affiliations, culture,
beliefs, and the like. The healthcare provider does not have the legal,
moral, or even intrinsic right to choose the kind of client he/she will take
care of. The client, who is presumed to be vulnerable, i.e., if we are
talking of the hospital setting, is someone the healthcare provider has to
address all of his/her capabilities, skills, and professionalism to. Only
then can he/she offer humane assistance to his/her patient.
It is morality, or established rules of professional ethics, i.e., nursing
ethics, that regulates the relationship of the nurse or any other healthcare
provider, and the client. The client is the paramount concern and
responsibility of the healthcare provider in the same manner that the
former must also be cooperative, abiding, and respectful to the latter.

THE HEALTHCARE PROVIDER

The healthcare provider, especially the nurse, is no ordinary
professional whose duties and obligation can just be accomplished by
mere compliance of those that he/she is expected or required to do, like
a mechanic, a carpenter, an engineer, a lawyer, among others. As
explained earlier, the paramount obligation of the nurses is the life of the
client. Hence, the healthcare of profession is a very delicate undertaking
in as much as it deals with human life per se. In this breath, the nurse
must be imbued with virtues for him/her to come to terms with all his/her
duties and responsibilities. To recall, the Romans translated the term
man as vir, which in turn yielded to the term virtue. In this case, virtue
then can be constructed as an act which is fitting or proper to man. In
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