The average female in their mid 50's that have a low socio-economic status, with only elementary school education have the greatest percentage of non-compliance with their insulin. When a person is diagnosed with diabetes it is a life time of drug therapy, diet modification and educating the patient. The severity of this disease and complications can be controlled by proper glycemic control (Amir,2001). Healthcare is the right of every human being. While reading this story, I believe she should have the right to this surgery. Yes, some will argue No because of her non- compliance but with her status of being indigent, we must ask ourselves could she afford healthy fruits and vegetables? Was she ever educated on possible outcomes if non- compliance…show more content… Arizona decided not to pay for lifesaving transplants. This caused outrage among people and a nation wide protest ( 2010). I fully agree with the court decision for her surgery. In an article in the Journal of Tropical Medicine, a study was done on Medicare's cost -effectiveness on transplant surgeries. They estimated the cost of surgery from the Medicare /Medicaid site. If a patient has a transplant in a 20 -year span $320,676 would cover immunosuppression drugs and $530,746 for dialysis. Over this time period society will be saving $ 136 million annually (Yen et al., 2004). An argument for the ethical decision of the court is the theory of distributive justice. The United States seeks equal access to care and providing the best care. Under many theories, I believe the woman would not fall under the Utilitarian Theory . This is we must do the best and appropriate thing for the most individuals, which can be beneficial to society but it also may deny care to the most vulnerable population. We can evaluate all possible theories the best our patient in the scenario would fit under is the Egalitarian Theory that all people with the same illness would be treated in similar…show more content… (2010, December). . Transplant News, 20 (12). 1-3. Retrieved from http://web.b.ebcohost.com.ezproxy.lib.umb.edu/ehost/deatail/detail?vid=45&sid=40762290-f617-46fc-9610-Of4779C9D736%40sessionmgr113&hid=115&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZW
Burkhardt, M. A., & Nathaniel, A. K. (2014). Ethics & issues in contemporary nursing (4th ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.
Iglehart, J. K., & Sommers, B. D. (2015, May 28). Medicaid at 50- from welfare program to nation's largest health insurer. New England Journal of Medicine, 372 (22). 2152-2159. http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/NEJMhpr1500791
Yen, E. F., Hardinger, K., Brennan, D. C., Wooward, R. S., Desai, N. M., Crippin, J. S., ... Schnitzier, M. A. (2004). Cost-effectiveness of extending Medicare coverage of immunosuppressive medications to the life of kidney transplant. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 4 (10), 1703-1708. Retrieved from
