Ethical Conflicts in Healthcare: Strategies for Resolution Through Multiple Ethical Lenses

Overview of Ethical Approaches to Resolving Ethical Conflicts

Ethical conflicts, especially in complex environments like healthcare, require a nuanced understanding of different moral philosophies to ensure appropriate resolutions. By examining care-based, feminist, virtue-based, and principle-based ethics, we can effectively navigate moral dilemmas and ensure decisions honor the integrity of all involved. These ethical frameworks guide decision-making by balancing autonomy, relationships, empathy, and responsibilities.

In many clinical settings, ethical decision-making doesn’t follow a single approach but is often a blend of several ethical theories. Understanding the foundations and application of these theories allows healthcare providers, particularly Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs), to facilitate morally sound resolutions.

Care-Based Ethics in Ethical Conflicts

Care-based ethics, a prominent approach in resolving moral dilemmas, focuses on relationships and empathy. It stresses the importance of caring for others and understanding their emotional and relational contexts. The moral response in care-based ethics emerges from considering the responsibilities we have toward others, prioritizing the individual’s emotional and relational well-being.

Table: Ethical Approaches in Resolving Conflicts

In ethical conflicts, care-based ethics emphasizes that our moral responsibilities stem from relationships. For example, in a clinical setting, healthcare providers using care-based ethics focus on maintaining the dignity of patients and their families while ensuring empathetic, compassionate care. This is particularly critical in situations involving end-of-life decisions.

Feminist Ethics and Conflict Resolution

Feminist ethics provides a framework for understanding ethical conflicts through the lens of power dynamics and social relationships. It critically examines how gender, race, and socioeconomic status can influence moral decision-making, ensuring that marginalized voices are heard. Feminist ethics often aligns with care-based ethics in its focus on relationships and contextual understanding.

Example: Feminist Ethics in Action
In a clinical setting, a chaplain adopting a feminist perspective may recognize that a daughter’s lack of formal education and her role as a caregiver could affect her ability to advocate effectively for her mother’s wishes. Rather than dismissing her concerns, the feminist approach seeks to understand the broader context and ensure her voice is considered in ethical decisions.

Virtue-Based Ethics in Healthcare

Historically rooted in nursing, virtue-based ethics emphasizes the moral character of the healthcare provider rather than focusing solely on rules or consequences. It asks, “What kind of person should I be?” rather than “What should I do?”

Virtue ethics often informs the decisions of healthcare providers who see their primary duty as advocating for patient well-being. A nurse guided by virtue ethics may prioritize alleviating suffering, even if this conflicts with family requests, as seen in cases where pain management and end-of-life care are at stake.

Principle-Based Ethics: Autonomy, Justice, and Beneficence

Principle-based ethics is one of the most widely applied approaches in healthcare, centered around respect for autonomy, justice, beneficence, and non-maleficence. Healthcare providers using this approach weigh each decision against these core principles.

For instance, in a case where a patient has an advance directive, the principle-based approach emphasizes honoring patient autonomy over the preferences of family members. This is evident when families request aggressive interventions that contradict the patient’s documented wishes.

Clinical Example of Ethical Conflict and Resolution

Consider the case of M.H., a 64-year-old female diagnosed with glioblastoma, who completed an advance directive specifying her preference to forego resuscitation if her condition was incurable. Her daughter, K.J., expressed doubts about her mother’s wishes and requested a reduction in pain medication to improve communication. The healthcare team, comprised of a nurse, physician, social worker, chaplain, and clinical nurse specialist (CNS), each applied different ethical theories to approach this case.

• The staff nurse, guided by care-based ethics, focused on M.H.’s comfort, believing that reducing her pain medication would only cause unnecessary suffering.
• The attending physician, using a principle-based approach, respected M.H.’s autonomy and supported her DNR status, seeing no ethical justification for increasing intervention.
• The social worker, influenced by feminist ethics, recognized the daughter’s emotional struggle and aimed to prioritize family relationships while managing the patient’s care.

In this case, the CNS played a crucial role by organizing a team meeting and ensuring all perspectives were considered. This collaborative approach helped the family and team reach a resolution in line with ethical principles, ensuring the patient’s dignity and wishes were respected.

FAQs on Ethical Approaches to Resolving Conflicts

Q: What is the most common ethical approach used in healthcare?
A: Principle-based ethics is one of the most widely used, focusing on key principles such as autonomy, justice, and beneficence.

Q: How do feminist ethics contribute to resolving conflicts?
A: Feminist ethics ensure that power dynamics and the social context of individuals are considered, advocating for marginalized voices in decision-making.

Q: What is care-based ethics?
A: Care-based ethics emphasizes relationships, empathy, and responsibilities toward others, prioritizing the emotional and relational aspects of moral dilemmas.

Q: Can multiple ethical approaches be used simultaneously?
A: Yes, in most clinical settings, ethical decision-making reflects a blend of approaches, ensuring a holistic resolution to conflicts.

Q: How does virtue ethics apply in modern healthcare?
A: Virtue ethics focuses on the moral character of healthcare providers, guiding them to make decisions that align with their duty to alleviate suffering.

In summary, resolving ethical conflicts requires a multi-faceted approach, incorporating various ethical theories that address different aspects of moral dilemmas. These frameworks ensure that healthcare providers can make informed, compassionate decisions that respect patient autonomy and dignity.

For further reference on ethical decision-making frameworks, visit Ethical Resources.