Medical Misdiagnosis Essay Example

Medical Misdiagnosis Essay Example Medical Misdiagnosis Paper Medical Misdiagnosis Paper Lies covering up medical misdiagnosis can never be morally justified. One who is found responsible for medical misdiagnosis should never be allowed to flee without compensating the aggrieved party for any injury done or being accountable for his/her mistake. Such accountability would be lost if one is allowed to nullify his mistakes through lying. On the other hand, any aggrieved party must not be complacent in any given instance of medical misdiagnosis because the injury caused may have been insubstantial or it is believed that it is not something worth pursuing. Medical misdiagnosis consists of serious mistakes that should be dealt with in accordance with what morality dictates. Two leading ethical theories will support the opinion that serious sanctions should be imposed on practitioners or doctors who are found guilty of medical misdiagnosis, and that lying to cover up these medical malpractices are not morally right. (The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Medical misdiagnosis occurs when doctors, nurses, or surgeons give wrong information to their patients regarding their actual illness or medical condition. It presupposes that they were guilty of negligence in the performance of their duties and they have fallen short of the standard quality of care that they are duty bound to provide to their patients. Medical misdiagnosis is very harmful, as it may result in very dire medical consequences to patients, ranging from severe complications to death. (â€Å"Facts about Medical Malpractice†). Because of the dire consequences involved in medical misdiagnosis, it is tempting for anyone guilty thereof to lie about their mistakes and thus deny responsibility. Such act is reprehensible and can never be justified by any moral theory. One ethical philosophy that can be explored in the search for moral justification of lying about medical misdiagnosis is Kantian moral philosophy. Kantian philosophy was formulated by a rationalist philosopher named Immanuel Kant. (â€Å"Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)†). Kant’s ethical theory was called the categorical imperative. It means that moral law is in the form of an unconditional command. For him, the test of morality is universalizability. Moral law must be of such nature that everyone who will be placed in the same position shall be bound to obey it in the future. (Catholic Encyclopedia). Applying this theory, it cannot be said that lying about medical misdiagnosis can pass the universalizability test. Patients deserve to know the truth in order to enable them to take the appropriate course of action, notwithstanding the danger of facing sanctions on the part of the doctor or nurse. The other ethical theory to be considered is utilitarianism, a tradition that was put forward by English philosophers Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. According to this theory, â€Å"an action is right if it tends to promote happiness and wrong if it tends to produce the reverse of happiness. † (Encyclop? dia Britannica). Otherwise stated, it means that the thing which will promote the greatest happiness for the greatest number is good. Lying to cover up medical misdiagnosis can never be morally justified in the viewpoint of utilitarianism. As stated above, medical misdiagnosis tends to produce more harm than good. Wrong treatment and medication of a patient can lead to worse sickness or even death. Lying to cover up mistakes will not solve these problems but rather make them more complicated, by preventing concerned persons from taking appropriate actions designed to mitigate the damage done. This cannot be claimed to promote happiness, much less to the greatest number. The only possible objection to this position is the defense that lying can be justified where telling the truth would only cause emotional pain to the patient and his/her family. Moreover, medical misdiagnosis may not be consciously or maliciously committed by the doctor or nurse concerned and therefore, any punishment that may be imposed on that account would be unfair and unnecessary. Such an argument is morally wrong, because it denies the responsibility of doctors and nurses with regard to the very critical position they occupy with respect to the life and health of their patients. Doctors and nurses should be extremely careful in all their actions. They would not be encouraged to exercise the required degree of diligence when they know that they can always get away with malpractice through lying about it. Catholic Encyclopedia. â€Å"Philosophy of Immanuel Kant. † 10 Feb. 2007. newadvent. org/cathen/08603a. htm. Encyclop? dia Britannica. â€Å"Utilitarianism. † 11 Feb. 2007. utilitarianism. com/utilitarianism. html. â€Å"Facts about Medical Malpractice. † 2007. 11 Feb. 2007. medicalmisdiagnosis. com/. â€Å"Immanuel Kant (1724-1804). † 10 Feb. 2007. friesian. com/kant. htm. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Ethics. 11 Feb. 2007. iep. utm. edu/e/ethics. htm.