Case Study on Biomedical Ethics in the Christian Narrative

Case Study on Biomedical Ethics in the Christian Narrative
Name
Institution
Applying the Four Principles: Case Study
Part 1: Chart (60 points)
Based on the “Healing and Autonomy” case study, fill out all the relevant boxes below. Provide the information by means of bullet points or a well-structured paragraph in the box. Gather as much data as possible.
Medical Indications
Beneficence and Nonmaleficence

Patient Preferences
Autonomy

* Medical indications refer to clinical data needed to for diagnosis and in determining the severity of the medical problem so as to come up with treatment options.
* Beneficence is about acting on the best interests of the patient while non-maleficence on preventing harm (Rassoulian, Seidman & Loffler-Stastka, 2017).
* James’ parents were acting in his best interest irrespective of the medical indication that his condition would worsen if not treated.
* They did not intend to harm him explaining the reason they came back after failing to get a solution.

* Autonomy refers to prioritizing on patient preferences
* As explained by Beever (2016), it emphasizes on the right of a patient to make personal decisions.
* Since James is 8 years old, he cannot be autonomous. However, his parents needed to consult him before making the final decision.
* While the physician cannot impact the final decision, he should be very convincing to protect the underage patient.

Quality of Life
Beneficence, Nonmaleficence, Autonomy

Contextual Features
Justice and Fairness

* Quality of life is about the medical life features of patient before and after treatment (Gillon, 2018).
* James’ health condition as worse before treatment but improved after constant dialysis.
* Nonetheless, he needs a kidney transplant for successful recovery and this has to come from the brother as per the doctor.
* The father considers having his other son sacrifice his kidney or relying on faith.
* Since by thinking that they are acting on his best interests the parents messed big time, it is high time they consider his views and instead of depending on their faith, they should ask him what he thinks about a kidney transplant with the donor being his brother.

* According to Gillon (2018), contextual features are about the legal, familial, and social setting influencing a person’s medical decisions.
* The faith held by James’ parents and the belief that he could be healed through prayer impacted the made medical decisions.
* The parents are also considering relying on their faith to have a miracle happen on their son rather than having a kidney transplant from James’ brother.
* While fairness and justice emphasize on equality, a conflict of interest was evident ...