Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc 34 Unit 1 Foundations of Medical Law and Ethics 4. Evaluate the alternatives. Compare the alternatives you identified and evaluate the consequences for each. Seek assistance from an ethical committee if needed and available. 5. Make a decision. Maximize the benefits to society and minimize the costs and risks. How would you feel if your decision was in the newspaper the next day for your colleagues and family to see? For the situation presented in the “Ethical Dilemma” in this section, the five-step model could be applied as follows: • Determine the facts. Review the health risks of extracting a healthy tooth and ignoring another probable source of pain. Review the research and clinical guidelines. • Define and examine the ethical issue. The issue is that ethics exist. Consider if other ethical issues exist, such as the right to life and do no harm. Should you honor the patient’s autonomy and extract the tooth in the absence of scientific evidence, perhaps violating your duty to act with beneficence? Do other ethical questions exist, such as whether you will do the patient harm by extracting a healthy tooth and potentially misaligning the patient’s bite pattern or requiring unnecessary expense to place a bridge or other device? • Identify alternatives and their consequences. Review the legal parameters and previous cases as well as their related outcomes. Review all options, including various alternatives to surgical approaches. • Evaluate the alternatives. Through medical literature, assess the likelihood that pain would continue if the tooth were pulled. Identify methods that could reduce any risks of continued suffering. Discuss the options with experts in this area. Consult with an ethics committee. • Make a decision. Select the option that will create the greatest benefit to society through equitable allocation of health resources, and which will minimize the harm done to the individual. Are you wasting time and resources by performing an unnecessary procedure? Bioethics Bioethics is the study of the ethical and moral implications of new biological discoveries and biomedical advances. The field of bioethics involves a broad range of issues related to the application of scientific advances to medical care that often present the dilemma of whether “we can” means “we should.” Bioethical dilemmas often go beyond the scope of individual practice and can affect society in general. bioethics the study of the ethical and moral implications of new biological discoveries and biomedical advances