Some Ethical Issues in Prehospital Emergency Medicine
- PMID: 27437517
- PMCID: PMC4909960
- DOI: 10.5505/1304.7361.2014.32656
Some Ethical Issues in Prehospital Emergency Medicine
Abstract
Prehospital emergency medical care has many challenges including unpredictable patient profiles, emergency conditions, and administration of care in a non-medical area. Many conflicts occur in a prehospital setting that require ethical decisions to be made. An overview of the some of ethical issues in prehospital emergency care settings is given in this article. Ethical aspects of prehospital emergency medicine are classified into four groups: the process before medical interventions, including justice, stigmatization, dangerous situations, and safe driving; the treatment process, including triage, refusal of treatment or transport, and informed consent; the end of life and care, including life-sustaining treatments, prehospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), withholding or withdrawal of CPR, and family presence during resuscitation; and some ambulance perception issues, including ambulance misuse, care of minors, and telling of bad news. Prehospital emergency medicine is quite different from emergency medicine in hospitals, and all patients and situations are unique. Consequently, there are no quick formulas for the right action and emotion. It is important to recognize the ethical conflicts that occur in prehospital emergency medicine and then act to provide the appropriate care that is of optimal value.
Hastane öncesi acil tıp, öngörülemeyen hasta profili, acil durumlar ve tıbbi olmayan bir alanda sağlık hizmeti veriliyor olmasından ötürü çeşitli sorunlar içermektedir. Pek çok ikilem ortay çıkmakta ve bu türden ikilemlere etiği ilgilendiren kararlar vermek gerekmektedir. Bu çalışmada genel bir çerçeve dahilinde, hastane öncesi acil tıp alanında ortaya çıkan bazı etik konulardan bahsedilmektedir. Bu bağlamda konu dört ana başlık halinde ele alınmıştır: (1) Tıbbi müdahale başlamadan önceki süreçle ilişkili etik konular; acil sağlık hizmetinin adil dağıtımı, damgalanma, tehlikeli durumlara müdahale ve güvenli sürüş, (2) tedavi sürecindeki etik konular; triaj, tedavi ya da nakil reddi, aydınlatma ve onam alma, (3) yaşam sonu ve yaşam sonu bakımla ilgili etik konular; yaşam destek/sürdürme tedavileri, kardiyo-pulmoner resüsitasyon (CPR), resüsitasyona başlamak ya da onu sürdürmemekle ilgili konular ve (aile) tanıklı resüsitasyon, (4) ambulans hizmetleriyle ilgili sosyal algı ile ilgili konular; ambulans (kötüye) yanlış kullanımı, çocukların acil tıbbi tedavisi ve kötü haberi verme. Hastane öncesi acil tıpta; her bir hasta ve onunla bağlantılı süreçler kendine has olduğundan dolayı, tıp etiğini ilgilendiren konularla ilgili daha iyi bir eylem ve duruş için, önceden hazırlanmış bir takım davranış formülleri vermek olanaksızdır. Hastane öncesi acil tıpta önemli olan, etik sorunun farkına varmak ve etik açıdan en az değer harcayan eylemi tercih edebilmektir.
Keywords: Ethical conflicts; ethics; prehospital emergency medicine.
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