HEALTH PROFESSION ETHICS

Ethical Issues and healthcare professionals

Ethical Issues and healthcare professionals

Introduction

Organ transplants are one of the most significant exponents of scientific progress of modern medicine, given the viscera conservation techniques on the one hand and the development of immunosuppressive drugs such as cyclosporine, on the other, resulting in a prolonged survival of organ transplanted and therefore the patient. It is therefore reasonable to assume that modern bioethics, which should be channeled all aspects of transplantation. However, to produce a transplant must have a grant and a reception. In the act of donation are evidenced ethical and cultural attitudes of a society, identified in the person consents to the transplant. At the reception you meet the wishes of the patient with social justice aspects of equitable distribution of organs.

In Western countries like ours, the donation of organs for transplantation is in a context with high standards of social and distributive justice:

Health care is generally universal.

The situation of sickness, unemployment or disability is compensated financially.

The facilities for treatment before transplantation, especially in dialysis patients with ESRD are practically limitless.

Finally the possibilities of obtaining organs from deceased donors are high.

Thus, ethical principles accepted in developed countries can not be extrapolated to other geographic areas with large basic needs. In transplantation, the focus of these ethical principles should be balanced and you can not attend one at the expense of others. Arise many aspects related to the areas of knowledge and practice where it is necessary decisions to help solve, in a very short time limit for medical situations and coordinators involved in transplant procedures not violated the basic ethical principles. In general, transplant dilemmas are related to the donor organ and the recipient thereof (Berger, Seversen, Chvatal, 1991).

Discussion

There are conditions that cause one or more of the vital organs of a person (kidneys, heart, lungs, liver, pancreas or intestines) stop working, is what is called a terminal organ failure. Unless you can replace the organ, or at least replace its function, the individual dies. In the case of failure of kidney terminal, for example, the work of the kidneys ¾ ie the removal of excess water and waste products of the body-may be made by a technique called renal dialysis. This technique saves the life of the person but is time consuming and often prevents the dialysis patient regains its shape. In the case of a failure of the intestine, can keep the individual alive with artificial feeding, but, again, this is a complicated system which significantly interferes with normal life of the patient. At present there is no satisfactory artificial system that replaces the function of the heart, lungs or liver long term (Franklin, Ternestedt, Nordenfelt, 2006).

Preferential treatment for a large portion of people with terminal failure of major organs, the organ transplant. The organ transplant programs for people with terminal kidney failure, heart, lungs or liver have been conducted for many years and now have a high success rate. A growing number of transplant recipients continues to live twenty years ...