Record Medical Administration Service for File Rationale Essay

Record

Medical Administration Service for File

Rationale in Support of Selection of Heart Transplant Recipient

Because time was of the essence in formulating this decision, this memorandum for the record sets forth the decision-making process and that was used to select the most appropriate candidate for a heart transplantation procedure. It was my responsibility as lead surgeon to select the most appropriate heart transplant recipient from a pool of three candidates, each of whom had suffered from several health-related issues that adversely affected their suitability for the transplant procedure. Therefore, in order to formulate as subjective an analysis as possible in a timely fashion, a utilitarian ethical analytical approach was used to identify the candidate that held the most promise of using the gift of additional life from the heart donor to its maximum advantage. The utilitarian ethical analysis showed that of the three potential heart transplant candidates, the 12-year-old patient, Lisa, was the most appropriate for the reasons discussed further below.

UTILITARIAN ETHICAL ANALYSIS OF HEART TRANSPLANT CANDIDATES: In sum, as propounded by John Stuart Mill and John Locke, a utilitarian ethical analysis of the three potential candidates for the heart transplant can be used to weigh the respective pros and cons of each candidate to determine which course of action represents the greatest good for the greatest number of people over time. In this regard, Andre and Velasquez advise that, "Utilitarianism is a moral principle that holds that the morally right course of action in any situation is the one that produces the greatest balance of benefits over harms for everyone affected" (2012, p. 37).Although all three candidates for the heart will likely be convinced that they are the most appropriate recipient for the organ, it is important to determine which candidate offers the most chances for a successful outcome in terms of length and quality of life (Rosen, 2003). For this purpose, a utilitarian decision-making process can be used following the three-step process as follows:

1. Identify the various courses of action that could be performed;

2. Determine all of the foreseeable benefits and harms that would result from each course of action for everyone affected by the action; and,

3. Select the course of action that provides the greatest benefits after the costs have been taken into account (Andre….....