Overview: The final case study for this course will require you to analyze a court decision in which a physician was found liable for medical malpractice. You will focus on facts pertaining to the med

Theory

Solution

1. Utilitarianism

Contagious diseases adversely affect the health of people with low immunity such as children, the elderly, and those with preexisting medical conditions such as cancer and diabetes compared to healthy adults. Consequently, in the case of the pandemic the vaccine could be first administered to these groups of people to prevent fatalities. The ethical theory of utilitarianism focuses on the greatest good for the greatest number of people, which ideally could be met by administering the vaccine to children, the elderly, and those suffering from chronic conditions who are the majority of the American population (Herring, 2016).

1. Rights-based ethics

The government, through the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), could also administer the available vaccine to individuals at more risk in each household to meet the requirement of equal access to healthcare during the pandemic. The theory of right-based ethics offers individuals to right to obtain necessary medical care without discrimination (Brazier, Devaney & Mullock, 2018). Hence, the American government would be compelled to provide the vaccine to all the families regardless of their race, religion, or ethnic affiliations.

1. Duty-based ethics

HHS could also undertake a nationwide mass testing and isolate individuals that are already affected by the disease for treatment. HHS has a responsibility of ensuring that all Americans are healthy (Parker et al., 2018). Thus, the officials in this department must undertake their duties of ensuring that all Americans are safe from the contagious disease. Duty-based ethics advocates for taking individual responsibility in various capacities, which makes it necessary for HHS officials to isolate those affected by the pandemic and provide the citizens that are yet to contract the disease with the necessary available vaccination.

1. Justice-based ethics

Equally, the HHS officials could undertake a surveillance of regions that could highly be affected by the disease due to their low socio-economic status for the administration of the available vaccine. In this case, the department would offer the vaccine freely without determining the social and economic positioning of people in such regions. The justice-based ethics supports equal distribution of resources without creating a sense of advantage or disadvantage to a specific group of people (Brazier, Devaney & Mullock, 2018). Hence, to achieve this equality, the health officials will have to consider American citizens categorized under the low socio-economic class such as the homeless for initial administration of the vaccine.

1. Virtue-based ethics

Public participation would equally be a significant approach in determining those who receive the vaccination at the first instance. Virtue-based ethics requires that people act with honesty and truthfulness to win the trust of people. As such, involving the public in determining how to administer the limited vaccines for the contagious disease would be critical in meeting virtue-based ethics.

Principle

Solution

1. Autonomy

For HHS official to successfully administer vaccines for the contagious diseases among those at risk, the department will have to inform the elderly and people suffering from prevailing conditions on the essence of taking the vaccine (Parker et al., 2018). For example, patients suffering from cancer need to be informed on the high risk of contracting the contagious disease and why it would be necessary to vaccinate them as a precautionary measure to meet the principle of autonomy.

1. Beneficence

The American department of health also need to evaluate the benefits and potential hazards of administering the vaccines to protect the citizens from the contagious diseases. The process meets the principle of beneficence as it ensures that the vaccine does not cause human health complications both in the short- and long-term (Herring, 2016).

1. Nonmalfeasance

Similarly, while administering the vaccine to the selected groups, the health officers need to ensure that the identified health effects are resolved within the required time to prevent patients from any form of harm. While vaccine could be beneficial in stopping the spread of the disease, it could impose some adverse health effects which medial practitioners need to counter to ensure the citizen’s wellbeing to meet the principle of Nonmalfeasance.

1. Justice

During the vaccination process, all identified groups for vaccination must be subjected to the same treatment process to achieve equality and fairness required under the principle of justice in bioethics.