Ethical Theories Making Process & Decision †Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About the Moral Decision Moral Theories Making Process? Answer: Introduction The case discusses about Dr. Susan Lim who was once a very reputed surgeon in the Singapore. She was well known for her first liver transplant performed in Singapore. She has a practicing medical license from the General Medical Council, London (Dr Susan Lim, 2016). She is responsible in handling many medical cases due to her diligence and professional experience. She was appointed to treat the sister of queen of Brunei, Pengiran Anak Hajah Damit. She was responsible for her medical care from the period of 2001 to 2007. An investigation was launched on the request of Brunei government and it was found out that she charged an astonishing amount of 12million, which was much higher than any amount charged for the same treatment in any normal circumstances (Asia one Health, 2016). Her unethical actions immediately came into the limelight and a legal suit was filed against her. In order to put on hold to the legal proceedings against her she wrote a letter to the foreign minister, George Yeo stating that in order to defend her case and protect her interest she has to reveal some sensitive information about the Royal Family. Later she found to be guilty and suspended by the SMC for three years along with the fine of $10,000. She did not only violated her professional code of conduct and compromised on her ethics and morals for commercial interest but also break the trust and faith that exist between a patient and their family. Stakeholders in this case The unprofessional behavior of Dr. Susan Lim has not only affected her personal and professional life but also other parties also who have a direct interest in her practice. The legal suit has affected Dr. Susan Lim, Singapore Medical Council and Brunei Government. Dr. Susan Lim: Dr. Susan Lim has been proven guilty for violating professional code of conduct. She overcharged her client based on her reputation. When asked about her unethical practice, she defend her case by releasing public statement saying that she has charged a reasonable fees for her treatment and in order to provide her client best medical care she even took additional training and consulted many foreign doctors on the same (Daily Mail, 2016). Singapore Medical Council: SMC is the governing body of all the medical professional practicing in Singapore. Their duty is to supervise and check whether the doctors are working in the best interest of their patient or not. The unethical behavior of overcharging the professional fees was deeply criticized by the SMC. This behavior of Dr. Susan Lim directly questions the ethics of other doctors practicing in Singapore. SMC imposed a fine of $10,000 accompanied by a three year suspension to Dr. Lim (SingaporeLaw.sg, 2015). The Royal Family of Brunei: The Royal Family even though are financially very strong but still they are exploited financially on the basis of their social class and reputation. The queens sister was charged approx. $24.8 million for a period of 110 days. During the critical stage of the patient the fees was increased to $250,000 to $450,000 per day. The relationship of a doctor with his patient and the family is of utmost good faith. Dr. Lim broke this faith and warned the royal family of disclosing their secret information during the proceedings (Glanfield, 2016). The Brunei government: The professional misconduct of Dr. Lim first came in the eyes of Brunei Government and they later reported to SMC. The Brunei Government raises the issue and asked Dr. Lim to charge a reasonable fees for her treatment. Due to the ongoing case the relation between Singapore and Brunei also got affected (Khalik, 2013). Ethical Dilemma Ethical dilemma referred to the situation of moral conflict or dispute where an individual have to make choices out of different alternatives or a course of action. Each course of action involves some Management on the part of ones ethics and morals. The individual have to make the right judgment regarding choosing the best alternative which minimizes the ethical and moral implications (Garber, 2008). In Dr. Susan Lim case she has been faced with the ethical dilemma of overcharging the queens. The situation of dilemma was whether to follow the professional code of conduct and charge her patient reasonably or forego her personal interest of earning livelihood. Each of the alternatives requires her to compromise on the professional ethics or her personal interest. Another dilemma faced by her was when she was fighting the legal suit and in order to defend her views she has to reveal some confidential information about the royal family of Brunei. About the Moral Theories Moral theories provide a strong basis for analyzing an individuals action and give a fair judgment about whether the actions performed by them is morally right or wrong. Morals and ethics are complementary to each other. The moral theories described here are written in old context which means they may not take into consideration factors affecting the choice of alternatives in present scenario. Also, each theory have different opinion regarding whether the outcome is morally right or wrong. They contradict each others view (Broad, 2013). The ethical dilemma faced by Dr. Susan Lim in above provided situation can be solved by applying moral theories and ethical decision making model. Each theory has its own set of limitations and have application in different scenarios. The moral theories are Hard Universalism, soft universalism, deontology and teleology. Among these four theories two theories will criticize and defend the case of Dr. Susan Lim. Teleology theory The teleology theory or the consequentialist theory of ethics states that the ethical and moral implication of an individuals action is analyzed by its final outcome. This theory believes that the course of action is justified when the end result is positive (Jhonson, 2008). In the context of the case, the actions of Dr. Lim is justified by the application of this theory. Dr. Lim though charged excessive fees but her aim was to provide her client with the best of the medical services. Also she gave justification saying that the fees was appropriate because it includes her training cost and consultation of other medical experts. Though she violated professional ethics and code of conduct, still her course of action will be justified both ethically and morally on the basis of this theory. Limitation to this theory The validity of this theory is limited to the positive final outcome. It does not implies that the course of action will guarantee a favorable result. In case of Dr. Lim also, though she was providing her best treatment to the queens sister but her overcharging of fees does not guarantee that the queens sister will benefit from the treatment and recover soon. This theory directly questions the ethical impact of the course of action chosen to achieve the end result. In this case, Dr. Susans action cannot be an excuse for the treatment of the queen sister. She was seen compromising her professional ethics. Soft Universalism The theory used to defend the case of Dr. Susan Lim is soft universalism which states that there are certain norms and principles which are applicable universally and they form a strong basis for leading a god life. They are applicable to everyone irrespective of the class, status, sex, and ethnicity (Schaumburg-Muller, 2008). In this case there was nowhere mentioned that Dr. Lim should charge this much but in the medical profession the life of the patient comes first than the doctors personal commercial interest. Also she violated the principle of good faith as she threatened to disclose the information of the royal family. Limitation to this theory: This theory talks about norms and principle which may or may not fit well in present scenario. In todays professional world there are certain situation in which an individual requires to take certain decisions which may or may not comply with the norms. Dr. Susan must have required to take decisions which were not in the line with the principles for the best interest of the patient. Ethical Decision making process Ethical decision in both professional and personal life is very important. The decisions should be ethically and morally right and the final outcome should justify individuals ethics and moral standards of the society (Byme, 2010). A counselling process will help Dr. Susan to resolve her ethical dilemma with the help of the eight step decision making process (Linder, 2013). Step 1: The first step includes defining the problem or ethical dilemma faced by the client, It is the professional duty of the counsellor to analyze the clients situation and the reasons why decision making is important and what will be the final outcome of this decision making process. The counsellor should give client some space and comfort, so that she can openly communicate her problem as the effectiveness of the solution depends on how well the problem is being addressed. In case of Dr. Susan, the problem should be identified and solved on an immediate basis as she has already lost her medical license to practice and in order to prevent any further damage to her reputation (Lo, 2012). Step 2: The second step involves gathering the relevant facts related to the problem of Dr. Susan Lim. She should review the fees charged by other medical practitioners for the breast cancer treatment. The guidelines of governing laws and regulation which in this case in SMC should be read thoroughly. The actual facts of the Dr. Susans case should also be collected unbiasedly and the impact of unethical actions of the stakeholders should also be analyzed. Step 3: The third step is to identify various alternatives or course of action keeping in mind the best interest of the SMC, Brunei Royal Family and the Brunei government. One alternative can be to restructure the treatment fees on the reasonable grounds. The other alternative can be to publicly accepting her mistake and apologize to the royal family of Brunei. The last alternative can be providing evidence which can justify her overcharged fees. Step 4: Once all the possible alternatives are identified, it should be critically evaluate all the possible alternatives and their impact on all the stakeholders. The advantages and shortcoming of each alternative should be analyzed. The counsellor should evaluate alternatives keeping in mind the situation of Dr. Susan Lim. Step 5: This step involves selecting the best alternatives out of the mentioned above based on the analysis done by the counselor. In Dr. Lims case the best alternative is to sincerely apologies to all the stakeholders in the public, especially the Royal Family of Brunei whose reputation has been at stake. She should also issue public statement stating that the fees will be charged on the reasonable grounds irrespective of the social class of an individuals. Step 6: This step requires the implementation of the chosen alternatives and take necessary actions to resolve the problem on the basis of the chosen alternatives (Ford Richardson). Step 7: This step is monitoring the results after the course of action suggested by the counsellor has been followed. Royal Brunei Family is not asking for any compensation nor they need but a public apology might appeal them to take back the legal suit. Also publicly apologizing may rebuild the lost trust and faith of the general public in her medical practice. Step 8: The last step is to validate whether the provided solution was in according to the problem or not. Also whether the chosen alternative have helped Dr. Susan in resolving her ethical dilemma or not. Conclusion The case highlights the unethical practices and unprofessional behavior of Dr. Susan Lim. She was facing the moral and ethical dilemma of charging a high fees for her treatment and breaking the principle of Utmost good faith that exists between the patient and their families. In order to resolve her dilemma, as a counsellor I have worked on with her on the eight step ethical dilemma model and find a relevant solution to her problem which will keep in mind the best interest of everyone. Also her actions were also defend and criticized on the basis the teleology theory and Soft universalism. References Asia One Health. 2016. Surgeon billed Brunei patient $40m over 4 years. Retrieved December 10, 2016 https://health.asiaone.com/health/health-news/surgeon-billed-brunei-patient-40m-over-4-years. Broad, C.D. (2013). Five Types of Ethical Theory. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=enlr=id=o2K4AwAAQBAJoi=fndpg=PP1dq=teleological+theoryots=BOKj84lT1lsig=MiZf1REWsmTAUBcRXbzGMMre-jI#v=onepageq=teleological%20theoryf=false on 7 May 2017. Byrne, A. (2010). Resolving ethical dilemmas.Keeping Good Companies,62(8), 502. Daily Mail. (2016). Top surgeon who performed the world's first liver transplant faces being struck off for 'charging the Queen of Brunei's sister 12million for breast cancer treatment. Retrieved from https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3421059/Top-doctor-performed-world-s-liver-transplant-faces-struck-charging-Queen-Brunei-s-sister-12million-breast-cancer-treatment.html on 7 May 2017. Dr Susan Lim. (2016). About Dr Susan Lim. Retrieved from https://www.drsusanlim.com/about on 7 May 2017. Ford, R. C., Richardson, W. D. (2013). Ethical decision making: A review of the empirical literature. InCitation classics from the Journal of Business Ethics(pp. 19-44). Springer Netherlands. Garber, P.R. (2008). The Ethical Dilemma. Human Resource Development. Glanfield, E. (2016). Top surgeon who performed the world's first liver transplant faces being struck off for 'charging the Queen of Brunei's sister 12million for breast cancer treatment. Retrieved from https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3421059/Top-doctor-performed-world-s-liver-transplant-faces-struck-charging-Queen-Brunei-s-sister-12million-breast-cancer-treatment.html on 7 May 2017. Lo, B. (2012).Resolving ethical dilemmas: a guide for clinicians. Lippincott Williams Wilkins. Harding, J. (2011). Dr Susan Lims threatening letter to Foreign Minister George Yeo. Retrieved from https://johnharding.com/2011/03/dr-susan-lims-threatening-letter-to-foreign-minister-george-yeo/ on 7 May 2017. Johnson, R. (2008). Kant's moral philosophy.Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. Khalik, S. (2013). Susan Lim case: SMC's lawyer says Brunei govt found fees exorbitant, unjustified. Retrieved from https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/susan-lim-case-smcs-lawyer-says-brunei-govt-found-fees-exorbitant-unjustified on 7 May 2017. Linder, K. (2013). Crunch Time!: 8 Steps for Making the Right Life Decisions at the Right Times. Austin: Greenleaf Book Group. Schaumburg-Muller, S. (2008). In defense of soft universalism: a modest, yet presumptuous position.Cuadernos constitucionales de la Ctedra Fadrique Furi Ceriol, (62), 112-126. SingaporeLaw.sg. (2015). Singapore Medical Council v Lim Mey Lee Susan [2015]SGHC129. Retrieved from https://www.singaporelaw.sg/sglaw/laws-of-singapore/case-law/free-law/high-court-judgments/18038-singapore-medical-council-v-lim-mey-lee-susan-2015-sghc-129 on 7 May 2017.