Examples of Ethical Challenges in Emergency Medicine Cases

📚 Quick Study Guide

• 👩‍⚕️ Patient Autonomy: The right of a patient to make their own decisions about medical care, even if those decisions are not what the medical team recommends.
• ⚖️ Beneficence: The obligation to act in the best interest of the patient.
• 🤝 Non-maleficence: The obligation to avoid causing harm to the patient.
• 🎯 Justice: The principle of fairness in the distribution of healthcare resources.
• 🔑 Confidentiality: Protecting a patient's medical information.
• 🤔 Informed Consent: Ensuring the patient understands the risks, benefits, and alternatives of a proposed treatment before agreeing to it.
• ⏳ Resource Allocation: Making difficult decisions about how to distribute limited resources, especially during mass casualty events.

🧪 Practice Quiz

1. A patient with a severe head injury refuses a life-saving blood transfusion due to religious beliefs. What ethical principle is most directly challenged?
   1. A) Beneficence
   2. B) Non-maleficence
   3. C) Autonomy
   4. D) Justice
2. During a mass casualty event, you must decide who receives the last ventilator. Which ethical principle should guide your decision?
   1. A) Patient Autonomy
   2. B) Justice
   3. C) Beneficence
   4. D) Confidentiality
3. You discover a colleague is diverting narcotics for personal use. What is your ethical obligation?
   1. A) Ignore it to maintain collegiality.
   2. B) Directly confront the colleague.
   3. C) Report the colleague to the appropriate authorities.
   4. D) Suggest the colleague seek help anonymously.
4. A minor requires emergency treatment, but their parents are unreachable. What should you do?
   1. A) Delay treatment until the parents are reached.
   2. B) Provide treatment based on the principle of beneficence.
   3. C) Obtain a court order before providing treatment.
   4. D) Transfer the patient to another facility.
5. You accidentally administer the wrong medication to a patient. What is the most ethical course of action?
   1. A) Document the error and monitor the patient closely.
   2. B) Report the error to the patient and relevant authorities.
   3. C) Blame the error on a system malfunction.
   4. D) Omit the error from the patient's chart to avoid legal issues.
6. A patient asks you not to reveal their HIV status to their spouse. What is your ethical responsibility?
   1. A) Honor the patient's request for confidentiality.
   2. B) Inform the spouse to prevent potential harm.
   3. C) Seek legal counsel regarding your obligations.
   4. D) Encourage the patient to inform their spouse.
7. You are asked to participate in a research study that offers significant financial incentives but may have potential risks to patients. What should you consider?
   1. A) The potential financial benefits to the hospital.
   2. B) Whether the research has been approved by an ethics committee.
   3. C) The potential risks and benefits to the patients and the principle of non-maleficence.
   4. D) The potential for career advancement.