Question

Read the following scenario and answer the questions.

Dr. Henry Duck was working his regular shift as the only doctor working in a small town Emergency Room at around 5:00 pm one day in May when a large tornado struck Dr. Duck’s county directly, causing catastrophic damage and multiple life threatening injuries. Dr. Duck knew that it would make for a long, busy evening treating patients in the Emergency Room, and was ready for the challenge, but did not fully appreciate the Ethical and Moral decisions he would have to make during the evening.

Almost immediately after the tornado passed, the small town’s emergency responders were overwhelmed and neighboring counties’ ambulance and first responder teams helped transport victims of the tornado to Dr. Duck’s emergency room. People were coming in at a rate never seen by Dr. Duck before, with all sorts of varying injuries caused by the tornado. The tornado patients who were coming in were all from different socioeconomic backgrounds, had ages varying from infant to 89 years of age, and included two pregnant women. Dr. Duck was unable to keep up with the heavy flow of incoming patients, which seemed to be never-ending, and began to have to make difficult decisions about who should receive priority in treatment for equally devastating injuries.

At around midnight, Dr. Duck finally felt he was getting the overcrowded emergency room in order and stabilized most of his patients, when the doors of the emergency room flung open. A gunshot victim with life threatening injuries, who was the suspect of a bank robbery in the affluent part of town was being hurried in by police. Almost simultaneously, a woman who underwent complications during a scheduled home delivery of baby twins was rushed through the doors by her concerned and frantic husband who was screaming, “we need help, my wife is going to die! My babies are going to die! Help! Please!” At the same time, Dr. Duck’s beloved 16 year old niece, Daphne, arrived by ambulance with significant, but non- life threatening injuries sustained as a result of a motor vehicle crash.

During the hectic time at the Emergency Room that occurred as a result of the tornado, how would ethical theories and moral judgments impact Dr. Duck’s decisions regarding who to treat first? Would Dr. Duck’s personal values play a role in his decisions?

When the three patients are hurried into the ER at around midnight, who should Dr. Duck treat first and why? What ethical theories apply to this scenario? Does situational ethics, justice and/or bias come into play with the three injured patients who enter the ER around midnight?

Answer 1

Although Dr. Duck will face both emotional and ethical problems while deciding which patient he should treat first but he has to decide it with what values he has been taught till now. His personal values will try to override him but he has to overcome it.

Dr. Duck should give priorities to the pregnant women first because she is carrying two life's one of herself and one the foetus inside her, then he should give priority to gunshot person as he was critically injured and the condition was life threatening and the last priority should be given to her niece who is not critically damaged and can be managed easily.

The ethical value such as justice (concern about the distribution of scarce health resource to everyone who is in need in society and decision of what treatment should be given to him), Beneficence (doctor should work for the best of the patient) and non maleficence ( he should make sure that whatever action he is performing should not harm the patient). These values will matter a lot in deciding the priority for the patients and situational ethics ( he is needed to decide which patient he should treat first).