Please respond to the ethics and case study questions.
Ethics Issue:
The American Medical Association’s Code of Medical Ethics states that physicians and other health care practitioners should not provide, prescribe, or bill for services they know are unnecessary. To be fair, however, it’s not difficult to understand why a reasonable doctor would want to cover all his or her bases, so to speak, since the threat of a frivolous lawsuit is always looming.
James Wilson sees his physician for intermittent chest pain. Mr. Wilson’s symptoms do not include sweating, difficulty breathing, or any other indications of heart problems. After a complete examination that includes a stress test and blood work, the physician is reasonably sure Mr. Wilson does not have heart problems. To protect against liability, however, Mr. Wilson’s physician orders a coronary angiogram.
1. IS it ethical for a physician or any other health care practitioner to prescribe or administer a medical treatment or test just to protect against potential liability? Explain your answer.
Case Study:
You are a phlebotomist for a community laboratory, and you report for work on an extremely busy day. You travel daily from the lab where you work to the hospital to draw blood, and then back to the lab. You have finished drawing blood at the hospital and are on your way back to the lab when you get a cell phone cal that the hospital needs a complete blood count (CBC) and electrolytes drawn STAT for a patient who has just come into the emergency room (ER).
1. Would you turn around and go back to the ER or drop off your current blood samples and then go back to the ER? Explain your answer.
2. What does the previous question have to do with preventing medical malpractice lawsuits?