last week's answer:

Healthcare ethics should be followed by all medical workers but sometimes they do not cover small issues that arise such as:

The cost of healthcare should be fair and make sense.

As stated in the healthcare code of ethics doctors should inform their patients of their medical fees. However, transparency is not enough, medical bills should be fair and within reasonable limits for patients. Fees charged by health care personnel especially specialists have been recently been criticized for being too high (Cooper, Frank & Hansen 2002). According to recent research, these specialists ask for unreasonable fees. Studies show that it is common for such practitioners to charge prices higher than the medical boards set. This leaves patients with acute diseases in suffering as they cannot afford to pay.

The code of conduct does not forbid setting high prices which give medical specialists the power to set fees. However, they should improve on transparency to ensure practitioners do not take advantage of their customers’ vulnerability. Patients are informed of the basic fees, but most fees are incurred during the actual procedure and they must cater for that through personal costs. I have developed keen interest on the same as there are no guidelines that safeguard patients against high costs imposed by hospitals. Should healthcare experts take advantage of their expertise to overprice their practice? Also, what role should the government play in ensuring specialists do not take advantage of their clients?

The security of health records

Family Planning records were recently hacked, and this caused a lot of controversy and uproar. The legal and medical personnel should ensure the security of their technological processes while always maintaining the privacy of their customers. Privacy should be emphasized in a medical institution as it is done in other businesses. Laws on the practice of privacy and security of medical online procedure should be more streamlined and specific.

Health records are very important and ensure easy access to medical data of a patient and provide the necessary research by doctors, therefore the medical personnel should work hard to secure them hence earning the trust of the clients. Medical information is personal, and exposure may cause significant challenges in the health record system (Hattab 2004). I would like to explore this issue to find out more about any strategies being set to improve this system. What amount of information should patients disclose in their records? What strategies is the government set to address cybercrime especially in the health sector?

Crowdfunding for treatment

Through recent technology, people have come up with ways to borrow money through certain websites for emergencies or treatment of chronic diseases. The customers use online platforms to seek support from well-wishers who help reduce the cost of the bills. However, this has become common though there are ethical concerns that are raised in connection with the same (Austin 2017). I concur that medical crowdfunding is a cause and does not meet the intended solution where there are injustices with regards to meeting the essential medical services. Does this forms the basis of my research on the viability of these crowdfunding initiatives and the ethical implications?

Policies should be set to address this issue to make sure that practitioners do not take advantage of unknowing clients to seek useless cures. Studying this issue helps me investigate the principle that states no harm should be done in treatment only benefits, some treatments are not necessary therefore cause harm. Are there any laws that can protect a patient from false advice from their doctors? What does all the money raised in crowdfunding do?

Question: Reexamine the three topics you picked last week. Research and find case studies related to your topics. Now, break out each case into a list of ethical and legal considerations that might help to analyze each case—summarize the considerations in two paragraphs for each case.

For each case, also ask one legal and one ethical question that might present. Consider the principles of ethics from Week 1 and the laws addressed this week. You should also use outside references to dig deeper into each case for your list.

To support your work, use your course and textbook readings and also use the South University Online Library. As in all assignments, cite your sources in your work and provide references for the citations in APA format.