Ethical Conundrums in the Clinical Laboratory

Ethics guide in difficult situations to make the distinction between right and wrong. Professional ethics ought to be given priority in laboratory medicine. Laboratory results deeply impact the decisions of the physician and the well-being of the patient. Hence, the ethical dilemmas in the laboratory have to be addressed to achieve better care for the patient. Ethics encompasses all the three phases – pre analytical , analytical and post analytical of the total testing cycle. Practical implementation of ethical codes is always a challenge. In this paper we aim to decode the various ethical considerations that need to be addressed during the total testing cycle while working in a resource constrained settings and the ethical conundrums during a public health crisis.

The Situation of Patients and the medical Health Care in Future

New contributions to the development of health care give a different look to the place of the patient. It appears that the outcome of medical treatments may depend of the specific medical and physiological condition of the patient and even other kind of conditions outside the patient may contribute to the results of the whole of medical treatment. New entities as effectiveness, participation of the patient, ethics, technics, digitization, multidisciplinary approach of research and consultation, deliver a total different look to the way as to how health care has to be secured. New specializations in medical law, medical management, tend to be developed day by day. New specializations of medicine will bring more effectiveness in using medical procedures. For example, translational medicine tends to find the best effective way of setting up new treatments, new scientific investigations. The introduction of personalized, predictive and preventive medicine, the translational medicine and precision medicine will enhance the implementation of scientific findings. Every contribution in this development has to consider the effect to the result in the health care system. The importance of the condition of the patient remains always the leading motive.

Is Healthcare Special?

Chapter 2 asks the critical question of whether healthcare is different from other consumer-driven markets. In the past, many pushed back on the notion that healthcare could be a consumer-driven industry, arguing that it is fundamentally different from other markets. This chapter acknowledges and reviews these critiques, highlighting four areas that might present challenges to increasing consumer choice in healthcare: the special relationship between doctor and patient, ethics and morality, individual choice versus collective benefit, and the health consequences of consumer choice. In doing so, this chapter also presents a schematic for thinking about the different types of healthcare choices, arguing that not all choices are equal and consumers may be more prepared to make decisions in some areas as opposed to others. In presenting the counterargument to consumer choice, this chapter asks the reader to consider the drawbacks and potential limitations of consumer choice in healthcare.