Biomedical Ethics
Question 1
Care is the compassion that people have towards others. In biomedicine, care is defined as all the medical services which entail all medical activities without a direct influence on mental wellbeing along with the extension of life but aims at fostering the subjective standard of life and psychological wellbeing of a patient. Cure, on the other side, means change. It involves activities that are necessary for restoring health in a physiological sense with a direct influence on the life span.
Question 2
People are morally obliged to provide primary care to the ill person to foster their recovery and improve their psychological health. Patients usually have the right to receive quality care from their beloved ones or form healthcare providers. Therefore, it is the moral obligation of people to provide primary care to ill persons to improve their health, which would consequently contribute to enhancing their recovery from their health conditions.
Question 3
Swallow test is the type of examination that shows what the esophagus and throat are doing while swallowing. It is typically done to locate and diagnose problems in the pharynx and esophagus.
Question 4
Medically assisted N/H is indicated when dealing with terminally ill patients. It is indicated when the patients have difficulties in feeding, which in turn encourages the use of various feeding and treatment methods to assist in promoting the health of the patient.
a.
Enteral nutrition is the method of feeding, which involves taking food through the gastrointestinal tract.
NJ tube is the method of feeding, which involves the use of a feeding pump. The tube is usually placed in through the nose where it is inserted down until it reaches the stomach and ends in the jejunum.
NG tube is a flexible rubber or plastic tube that is passed through the nose down to the stomach. It is typically used to remove or add substances from the stomach.
PEG is a procedure that involves placing a flexible feeding tube through the abdominal wall into the stomach. It normally allows nutrition, fluids, and medications to be directly placed into the stomach through the mouth and esophagus.
b.
parenteral nutrition is the venous administration of nutrition for the patients who cannot orally eat food or absorb the food through the tube feeding formula. PN is habitually applied to people of all ages since it may be given to infants, children together with adults.
TPN is the technique of feeding that bypasses GI. The technique involves giving fluids into a vein to offer most of the nutrients required by the body.
PPN is the method of feeding in which the fluids containing some nutrients required by the body is given through the peripheral vein in the arm.
Question 5
The basic principle of N/H is accountability. The basic exceptions in N/H entail artificial hydration and parenteral feeding in patients with metastatic cancer since the technique is not recommended for such patients.
Question 6
The case surrounds the use of PEG to sustain the life of Ms. Schiavo, who had suffered from cardiac arrest. The use of PEG contributed to lawsuits, which contributed to the removal of the PEG from the patient. However, it was later reinstated by another court order.
Based on the bioethical analysis of the case, we should continue with PEG since it is an effective way of administering medications and fluid to terminally ill patients to foster their health.