HA570 Unit 9 Assignment

Three individuals in town require a hip surgery, followed by extensive rehabilitative therapy. Physical and occupational therapy will be provided at the skilled nursing facility where the individual will reside until able to return home. Below are details of each individual.

• Donna Mueller is a 58-year old disabled widow with no children. She spent her career as a homemaker and taking care of her husband. Donna requires surgery after falling at home while washing windows. Prior to the accident, Donna was relatively independent, although a stroke a few years prior left her partially paralyzed. She lives alone and has minimal company over.


• Steve McDonald is 40-year old unemployed musician. He has a teenage son who lives with the son’s mother in a neighboring town. At the age of 19, Steve left college to pursue a career as a drummer. For the past two decades, Steve has worked odd jobs while pursuing his dream. Although his perseverance has not landed him national attention, he has performed with a few, known bands in the area. Recently, while exiting stage left from a nightclub performance, Steve tripped over the dark stairs and fractured his hip, ultimately leaving him unemployed as he is currently unable to perform.


• Chris Snider is a 73-year old entrepreneur and business owner. Never married, Chris spent his career in the fast-pace, produce or perish industry of nanotechnology where he employs over 5,000 workers ranging from maintenance technicians to senior research engineers. Chris requires surgery after being innocently hit with a runaway golf cart on the back 9 with his visiting, foreign affiliates. Chris was completely independent prior to the accident. He lives alone; however, his business requires travel.

In a 5-7 page paper (excluding title page and reference list), address the following:

• Considering the aging population and existing challenges, discuss the potential role of allocation principles in the American healthcare system.


• Discuss the potential implications these principles have on the aging population (consider potential violations of federal antidiscrimination laws and ethical principles about fair treatment).


• Based on the Complete Lives System, discuss which individual would most likely receive the surgery.


• Based on your moral compass, ethical standards, and healthcare laws, discuss which individual you would recommend for surgery.


• Recommend the one allocation principle you would prefer as the primary medical intervention for a growing (and aging) population.

Report your findings noting the following standards:

• Current APA formatting (e.g. title page, citations, conclusion, reference page, etc.) should be used.


• Proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation are expected.


• Plagiarism, self-plagiarism, unoriginal work, and unattributed content is not permitted and will result in action pursuant to the University’s Plagiarism Policy and Procedures. 

References:

• Krütli, P., Rosemann, T., Törnblom, K. Y., & Smieszek, T. (2016). How to fairly allocate scarce medical resources: Ethical argumentation under scrutiny by health professionals and lay people. Plos ONE, 11(7), 1-18. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0159086


• Persad, G., Wertheimer, A., & Emanuel, E. J. (2009). Department of Ethics: Principles for allocation of scarce medical interventions. The Lancet, 373, 423-431. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(09)60137-9 


• Galarneau, C. (2016). Communities of Health Care Justice. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press.


• Rutstein, S. E., Price, J. T., Rosenberg, N. E., Rennie, S. M., Biddle, A. K., & Miller, W. C. (2016). Hidden costs: The ethics of cost-effectiveness analyses for health interventions in resource-limited settings. Global Public Health, 1-13.


• Emanuel, E. J. & Steinmetz, A. (2013). Will physicians lead on controlling health care costs? Jama, 310(4), 374-375. doi:10.1001/jama.2013.60073