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Access to quality healthcare and improving community well-being
Access to quality healthcare and improving community well-being
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Introduction
Access to quality health in a community creates many benefits such as longer life span, more developments, excellent growth, and living a stress-free lifestyle. The role of public healthcare providers and partners in health initiative is to take care of the general health status of the community. Mortality rates, life expectancy, years of potential life lost, and the population statistics forms the common health assessment tools used in evaluating the state of health of the community are (Lewenson & Truglio-Londrigan, 2010, pp. 43-47). Delivery of quality health care services and well-being of people acts as a major challenge for many nations across the world, United States being the most affected. Despite the efforts by the health care sector to increase the quality of healthcare and improve patient outcome, most communities have never seen improvement in the health care sector. According to Winkfield (2014), the condition of healthcare facilities plays a significant role in determining the quality of health care services offered. In addition, the performance of the government in collaboration with the department of health plays a major role in influencing the quality of health of the U.S. people. Further, Healthy People 2020 have a list of health issues that affect people in U.S. (Healthy People 2020, 2014).
Key Factors Associated with Health
The Bradenton community in Florida faces many health care issues accelerated by many factors associated to society, ethics, politics, and economy. Access to quality health care services and patients well-being is the main issue affecting people from this community. The problem affects a large number of people in the community, calling upon health care experts’ intervention improve the health status of Bradenton community. Healthy People 2020 focus on ensuring every person in the United States has access to quality health care services and enjoys a healthy lifestyle by introducing many beneficial innovations to the health care sector (Healthy People 2020, 2014).
The background of Bradenton
Bradenton is a city found in Manatee County, Florida. It stands as the largest city in Florida with an approximate population of 50,000 people according to 2012 statistics. The people of Bradenton demonstrate the modern lifestyle living model because of the presence of a comfortable and civilized environment.
Social factors
The Bradenton community upholds unique social and cultural practices distancing them from other communities in the Florida. The community is governed by a democratic mode of governance where they democratically elect their leaders. Most people in the area speak English language, although some speak Spanish, and French. The community values education and most of its members have attained higher levels of learning.
Health consideration
The community promotes a healthy lifestyle by pursuing health and life fulfilment activities that promote the quality of life and well-being of every person. Moreover, the community has a number of economic activities that give them revenues and help them acquire their basic and secondary needs. The city has numerous health care centres and hospitals where people receive treatments depending on their location. The high standards of living experienced by the people of Bradenton contribute to the high spread of chronic kidney disease because they lack proper nutrition education programs. The rate of employment is moderate with 30 percent of the adult population working in formal sectors. U.S. financing has a strong relationship with the current economy. The high growth rate of health care spending in U.S. exceeds the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the population, and inflation rates. Lack of adequate financing because of the current economic status affects the provision of healthcare services in major cities like Florida. The health care cost has raised because of the dramatic increase in health care spending bearing in mind only a small amount of GDP share is devoted to health care. Lack of adequate health care facilities and workforce in some communities like the Bradenton community in Florida promotes increase in chronic disease prevalence (Florida Health, 2014HealthH).
Relationship to Florida as a Whole as well as the USA
Florida Department of health puts all the necessary efforts in ensuring every person has access to improved healthcare services. The Healthy People 2020 objective aids in achieving the goal and objectives for the health sector. They involve in communities in healthy practices and push the government into making health available to people in rural areas. Survey from Florida health charts on the quality of health care and well-being reveal the following. Firstly, the sector identified strategic health as the priority area of concern for the 67 county-level community health assessment and health improvement planning processes. Secondly, chronic diseases are very common in the area. The most common health issues affecting people from the community include diabetes, obesity, tobacco use, and overweight. Another issue that emerged as a concern to the Florida Department of health is dental problem. Finally, poor public health infrastructure and policies hinder achievement of quality health care services. The city has been on the move to introduce health policies and laws governing health care providers in the area. Florida Department of health has introduced many solutions to health problems facing communities in the city. One of the most significant solutions is the introduction of local networks that promote easier communication between people in the rural areas and urban areas (Florida Health, 2014).
On the other hand, the issue not only affects Florida community but also the whole of United States. The 2010 National healthcare Quality and Disparities report evaluates the quality of healthcare in United States by the year 2010. The major areas studied are; patient-centeredness, timeliness of services, patient safety, and effectiveness of care. The NIMHD and the Department of Health Human Services (HHS) helped generate the report. The nation plays a significant role in ensuring progress and change in the healthcare industry because they are responsible for providing the needed infrastructure and financial support. The report developed many alternatives to resolving the issue of healthcare disparities in the United States. The most recommended areas that needed more support included patient and family engagement, safety, care coordination, palliative care, and population health (U.S. Department of Health & Human Service, 2011).
Access to Health Care
Access to quality health care services plays a major role in improving the outcomes of a community. The Bradenton community should live a happy lifestyle free from health problems such as cases of chronic kidney diseases. Community assessment process helps in identifying and determining solutions to problems affecting a population in the community. The health care sector has a duty of ensuring health-related quality of life and well-being of every person in the world regardless of their age, gender, race, ethnicity, financial status, or political affiliates. Government initiatives like the Affordable Care Act aimed at improving quality of health in the community and ensuring people stay a healthy lifestyle. The Affordable Care Act helps in reducing health costs.
The community complains of dissatisfaction with the current health care policies. The cost of health care in U.S. averages 175 percent and most of the population lack health care insurance while other developed countries offer quality healthcare services. The Affordable Care Act helps reduce the rising costs of healthcare; improve the quality of healthcare services and effectiveness, and cover more of its people with insurance would help reduce the number of complaints from citizens (Menzel, 2012). The relationship between the Affordable Care Act and the Brisbane community in Florida continues to grow as more people enrol in Health Insurance Marketplace. The health care act demonstrated justice and fairness for all people representing one nation.
Drivers and roadblocks
The creation of reforms in the health sector requires a combined effort from the various stakeholders. Individuals can aid in promoting health reforms through having group meetings. During such meetings, they can discuss the challenges they face in acquiring health services and how to solve these challenges. They can even make individual contributions to raise funds for purchase of certain medical equipment that are unavailable at the area medical centre. Furthermore, individuals ought to make their voices heard by the government in situations whereby a health care facility is non-existent. It is their right to demand for such facilities without fear of reappraisal.
The government plays a crucial role in health reforms. Any changes that occur in health reforms usually go through a vigorous scrutiny by the parliament. This body comprises of representatives of the people who discuss on development matters. The government, through this body can ensure adequate allocation of funds to each constitution to ensure development of health facilities in each constituency. Furthermore, it should ensure adequate control of these funds by ensuring auditing of the use of the funds and physical checks on the existence of supposedly complete projects. The government, as a major employer of health workers, should ensure adequate compensation for their effort. They should ensure that they train them well on new programs that are due for implementation.
Health care providers and the community play a major role in promoting health reforms by ensuring they educate their employees on possible benefits of enrolling for new health reforms. In some instances, such reforms are compulsory and it is the onus of the employers to make the necessary deductions from employees’ salaries for purposes of subscription to medical cover. Health care providers ought to work hand in hand with the government in the implementation of new reforms. They should also implement utmost professionalism in their delivery of services and compliance with new standards that are by the reforms.
Communication
The Medicare policies do not address costs in policy decisions. The room for ambiguity occurs. Medicare does not consider costs in coverage determinations. In practice, the costly new technologies undergo much scrutiny than other devices and services. Conditions of coverage involve sifting through the complicated evidence base, evaluating the benefits and risks. Moreover, the coverage depends on the determination of the right time for implementation and under what conditions favourable.
Three areas that present challenges include achieving the aims of making healthcare effective, timely, and efficient. These challenges are more evident in the way information and communications are managed in nursing (ANA, 2010). Failure to manage information and communications appropriately may result in unnecessary costs, reduced quality of healthcare and inefficiencies. These challenges may be overcome by using nursing informatics. This is the specialty which integrates computer science, information science and nursing science to manage and transmit communication data, knowledge and information in nursing practice. This is useful because it supports nurses, patients and other healthcare providers. Documentation is a major aspect in nursing informatics. This is because quality care is dependent on effective communication. Nursing informatics can improve the accuracy and timeliness of patient charting. Nurses can be involved in the process of improvement by ensuring that patient notes are taken and recorded in the relevant systems in a manner that improves the timeliness and effectiveness of healthcare delivery.
Alternatives
Communities like Brisbane experiencing the problem of quality healthcare should consider promoting wellness and introducing a healthy lifestyle especially for racial and ethnic groups. The federal government should be on the first lane in promoting the public to preventing disparities in healthcare. Many researchers have developed many mitigation measures to the problem as discussed below. According to Baldwin (2003), healthcare providers are the most influential people in preventing the problem. The issue raises a bigger concern considering that such professionals would help eliminate the problem. The future of nation healthcare needs is at risk because presence of minorities in the healthcare sector would help them offer effective services to other racial and ethnic minorities. Increasing the number of professional doctors and implementation of health informatics would increase access to health for the people in the community. Technology helps bring reliable and effective clinical practical guidelines that help improve the health of a community (Savel and Foldy, 2014).
Recommendations
Application of health care innovation in Bradenton Florida helps in increasing the quality of life and well-being among people in the community. The availability of resources such as money and skilled work force would help the community implements all the program strategies and promotes quality patient outcome. Moreover, the programs will create an enormous impact in the health care industry by reducing mortality and morbidity cases through decreased cases of chronic kidney disease. As healthcare sector continuous growing in Florida, healthcare experts introduce new implementing health care informatics.
Nurses help in implementing healthcare reforms introduced by the healthcare sector and the government. Healthcare providers require frequent problem-based education in order to increase the quality of patient care and provide services to all citizens. Such programs should not only focus on physicians but also nurses because of their role in improving the healthcare sector. Nurses easily interact with patients, and they are responsible for most home-based and bed-manner services. The seminar given by White on NIH Health Disparities in October 2011 focused only on physicians. White ought to have included nurses and healthcare providers in the seminar because they too interact with patients and are more likely to improve patient outcome. Some of the issues and strategies proposed by White such as developing programs for evaluating the relationship between patients and healthcare providers would also work with nurses (White III, 2011).
Conclusion
The Brisbane community and health care officials should focus on implementing health care reforms capable of improving the quality of health care and well-being of the community. The government and health policy makers must take part in generating rules and regulations guiding the implementation of the program in all healthcare institutions across the country.
References
ANA. (2010). Health System Reform: Nursing’s Goal of High Quality, Affordable Care for All. ANA Issue Brief, 9(6), 1-10. Retrieved January 7, 2014, from http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/Policy-Advocacy/Positions-and-Resolutions/Issue-Briefs/Health-System-Reform.pdf
Florida Health. (2014). Florida Vital Statistics Annual Report 2013. Florida: State of Florida
Department of Health. Retrieved from http://www.flpublichealth.com/VSBOOK/pdf/2013/Intro.pdf
Healthy People 2020. (2014). About Healthy People. Foundation Health Measures. Health-
Related Quality of Life and Well-Being. Retrieved from http://healthypeople.gov/2020/about/QoLWBabout.aspx.Lewenson, S. & Truglio-Londrigan, M. (2010). Public health nursing assessment tool.”
Nursing Outlook 58. 2: 1-57.
Menzel, T. P. (2012). Justice and Fairness: A critical element in U.S. health system reform.
Journal of Law medicine and Ethic, 1. 1: 589-597
Savel, T. G. and Foldy, S. (2014). The Role of Public Health Informatics in Enhancing Public
Health Surveillance.” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), 61. 3, 20-24
U.S. Department of Health & Human Service. (2011). National Healthcare Quality Report,
2010. Retrieved from
http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/qrdr10.htm
White III, A. (2011, October 13). NIH VideoCast – What Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Would
Want Us to Know About Health Care Disparities. NIH VideoCast – What Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Would Want Us to Know About Health Care Disparities. Retrieved September 11, 2014, from
http://videocast.nih.gov/summary.asp?Live=10685&bhcp=1
Winkfield, E. (September 2014). LAmerica’s Healthcare Crisis: Is There a Solution?
Retrieved from
http://realtruth.org/articles/090203-005-health.html
Buying Video Games Will be a Thing of the Past
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Buying Video Games Will be a Thing of the Past?
Introduction
The industry of video games is at the edge of an evolution. It first transitioned into the digital space and today, gaming is expanding across devices and platforms making the industry to offer gaming as a serving and not as a good like before. Historically, gamers have been purchasing video games in physical copies in which people used to visit gaming stores and purchase their favorite games (De Prato, Feijóo, & Simon, 2014). But this is gradually changing because recently, there has been an increased gaming flexibility which allows gamers to play across devices and platforms. For some time now, there has been a transition of video games towards the digital model and gaming services like Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass, PlayStation Now, and Xbox Play Anywhere allowing gamers to play on multiple compatible platforms and devices. Previously, these video games were only on physical discs and gamers could only access them with their consoles. The ability to play on digital space and to play across platforms and devices has been ongoing for quite a while. Gaming being offered as a service though is a recent phenomenon, it is taking shape (De Prato, Feijóo, & Simon, 2014). Gaming as a service involves subscribing to game libraries and streaming the video games instead of buying them which creates a range of possibilities in multiple areas of the gaming sector. This essay will support the argument that one day buying video games will be a thing of the past.
Tech Companies Involvement and Streaming
Nontraditional gaming companies such as Google, Apple, and Facebook are creeping into the gaming industry. The industry of technology is looking for a way to make streaming of video games as natural as movie streaming on Netflix or music streaming on Spotify (Johnson & Woodcock, 2019). Through Xbox console, Microsoft has gotten into the gaming industry. Two years ago, Project xCloud was introduced by Microsoft, it is a streaming service of video games allowing the users to stream games on the personal devices. Project xCloud became fully functional a year later and subscribers can access it on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Facebook, along with Unity Technologies started to develop a gaming platform in the year 2016 and a program known as Stadia was launched by Google (Bengtsson, Bom, & Fynbo, 2021). The program is a cloud gaming service by Google allowing gamers stream video games as they play. Users can access it on Google’s browser, tablets, phones, and PCs. The goal for Microsoft, Facebook, and Google is to allow gamers to stream video games even without a video game console or a computer. As the trend continues, buying physical video games in the form of discs or cartridges is becoming a thing of the past.
It would however be argued that the move towards streaming and playing video games online would limit the gamers and would not give them sole ownership of the video games as it would when one buys physical copies of these games. Also, it would require gamers to have constant and uninterrupted access to internet connection (Rienzo & Cubillos, 2020). In cases, of internet downturns, gamers would be interrupted and would not have a good experience playing. In addition, gamers would experience issues such as low hard drive space that is why they would prefer to have a storage medium. On the part of the companies, selling physical video games has been a source of their revenue for years and a move towards digital gaming would hurt their traditional source of income (Zeng, 2021). In response to this argument, proponents of streaming and playing video games online would argue that subscribing to video streaming services is the future and would benefit video game companies such as Electronic Arts and Ubisoft as the cost of manufacturing, storing, and shipping of video games would disappear. Besides, subscription services allows for generation of revenues for the gaming companies throughout while traditionally, gamers used to but video games occasionally such as during holidays. Furthermore, the production cost of physical copies is quite high and consequently, it would lead to smaller profits.
The Evolution of Digital Technology
The advent of the distribution of digital games can be traced to the late 20th Century but recently it has come to be truly recognized as an alternative to buying physical copies. Today, consumers are in support of digital subscription and several factors attribute to this surge (Brock, & Fraser, 2018). The most influential attribute in the relatively lower price of digital games as well as its convenience. But still opponents would argue that there are a number of factors that prevent digital games from taking over the gaming market completely. Relative to physical retail, it is argued that the price differences are not that substantial to encourage consumers to prefer digital purchases over retail. This is coupled with other issues such as consumer-unfriendly practices and poor marketing (Brock, & Fraser, 2018). As a proponent of digital gaming services, one would argue that gaming companies are now more conscious of the expectations of gamers and could therefore maximize by releasing their games exclusively digitally. Another positive digital distribution feature is that smaller and independent developers have the opportunity to compete in the gaming market and be successful (Sepasgozar, 2020). In this digital era, it is evident that eventually, digital distribution of games will supersede physical game copies. According to David Darling, a veteran in the gaming industry; it is the same as flipping a coin, at some point, it is going to flip. He states that in six months things would change and everyone would be wondering why it did not change before.
Gaming the Digital Space
The first stage of the gaming industry transformation is transitioning from buying physical gaming copies to digital distribution. This form of distribution has helped in the introduction of major changes to the gaming industry (Rienzo & Cubillos, 2020). Digital forefronts have been created like the Steam and the Epic Games Store which sells vast libraries of games. There have been other developments which include the mobile games propagation on a variety of devices like tablets and phones as well as the subscription model’s expansion with services that facilitate digital game libraries and online multiplayer like PlayStation Now, PlayStation Plus, Xbox Game Pass, and Xbox Live. The video games’ digital distribution encourages competition and innovation among developers and the rise of this form of distribution comes hand in hand with an increase of power in various devices. Games had gradually moved from cartridges on consoles and physical discs on PC to digital downloads on PCs and other portable devices such as smartphones and tablets (Charness & Boot, 2016). Currently the mobile gaming market accounts for about 51% of the gaming industry’s market share with PC and console gaming comprising 24% and 25% respectively. Moreover according to a research conducted by Camps-Ortueta et al. (2021), the digital format of video gaming has grown to about 80% of sales since the year 2017. According to the report, thanks to digital online gaming, more than 220 million people in North America are mobile gamers and the market value of digital video game globally is more than 120 billion dollars. This demonstrates that the industry of digital video games has grown substantially over the years.
In this regard, opponents would argue that physical video games are much cheaper and safer compared to the digital mobile gaming. Gamers tend to incur more costs in terms of internet connection charges (Eliashberg ET AL. 2016). Internet service providers tend to impose huge data charges for online gamers depending on the time of play. Some games require that gamers have online accounts typically with monthly or bimonthly subscription fees. The second point against gaming in the digital space is security. Gaming in the digital space exposes gamers risk of hacking. Gamers are required to key in their personal information while signing up for a number of reasons (Zhang et al. 2019). There are risks involved especially when hackers manage to hijack the gamers’ personal information. Their information ca be used for illegal activities which could cause damage to the players’ reputation in a split second.
In response to this argument proponents would argue that costs associated with digital gaming are not that huge compared to physical gaming. In fact, there are costs associated with physical video games purchases and one of them is delivery cost and time. Subscribing to online gaming is fast (Zhang et al. 2019). Even with the additional data charges, gamers tend to socialize because gaming online allows communication between players who are geographically apart. This encourages interaction and a great team play.
Gaming as a Service
Today, there is a shift in the model in which games are distributed as a service and not as goods. This implies that today and in the days to come, gamers will exclusively buy video games through a model of subscription to a gaming library which is streamed on a mobile device (Cai et al. 2016). This is contrary to the one-time buying of single games which has historically prevailed as a business model. Successful companies in industries such as software and entertainment are also shifting towards provision of products as services under the model of subscription. Netflix for instance, switched from mailing to its customers physical DVD copies to enabling them to stream and download movies and shows under subscription tiers. Adobe and Microsoft also shifted from one-time purchase of Creative Suite and Office software to selling their products via digital downloads under the model of subscription as well (Cai et al. 2016). Looking back at how technology has evolved and the shift of focus in related industries as mentioned above, selling gaming as a service and not a product is the next logical step in the industry of video gaming. Hence the statement, buying video games is a thing of the past.
As a matter of fact, that transition to selling video games as a service in the subscription model is already underway. PlayStation Now by Sony for instance enables subscribers to stream games on their personal computers, iOS devices, and PS4. Shadow is another subscription service offering cloud-based gaming across macOS, iOS, Android, Linux, and Windows. Shadow, PlayStation Now, and soon-to-be live services like ‘Netflix for games’ by Microsoft, Google Stadia, and Project xCloud are all trying to make gaming more about internet strength and less about machines that gamers play on (Zhang et al. 2019). The rise of such services, there is a less requirement to have powerful devices just to play video games. In fact, with these services, more people can play a broad range of games. Such emerging service, both non-streaming and streaming, have managed to lower the barrier to entry and are also inviting more gamers to play. In addition, related industries have been touched by this innovation and can go beyond the stimulation of innovation and competition in the gaming industry. The early stages of this transition however calls for the need to have a stable and faster internet connection. Opponents would argue that these emerging services are yet to fully mature and until then, professional gamers cannot employ them (Zhang et al. 2019). Latency and input lag are some of the problems that online gaming services must get rid of prior to professional gaming accepting them. This means that ‘gaming as a service’ model will coexist with traditional models in order to cater to various market segments.
Conclusion
There are continuous advancements in the capabilities of internet bandwidth making the digital distribution to flourish. Thanks to these developments, more industries have incorporated this method and the gaming industry is not an exception. However, there are divided opinions in the gaming industry with respect to the distribution of games. Some prefer digital while others prefer physical distribution. In order to address the issue, the paper has evaluated it from the perspectives of both the industry and the consumer. As is discussed above, innovation is at the heart of the gaming industry, thus, new technology, new experiences, and new controls are inevitable. The world has continued to move towards spending time on their devices making streaming services to be the order of the day. From movies to music and now video games, digital game playing is becoming an important avenue for revenues. Gaming companies are looking towards leveraging on this. Soon enough, gamers will no longer have to buy video gamers, rather, they will only need to subscribe and access video games easily on their devices.
References
Bengtsson, T. T., Bom, L. H., & Fynbo, L. (2021). Playing Apart Together: Young People’s Online Gaming During the COVID-19 Lockdown. YOUNG, 29(4_suppl), S65-S80. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F11033088211032018
Brock, T., & Fraser, E. (2018). Is computer gaming a craft? Prehension, practice, and puzzle-solving in gaming labour. Information, Communication & Society, 21(9), 1219-1233. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2018.1468920Cai, W., Shea, R., Huang, C. Y., Chen, K. T., Liu, J., Leung, V. C., & Hsu, C. H. (2016). A survey on cloud gaming: Future of computer games. IEEE Access, 4, 7605-7620.
Camps-Ortueta, I., Deltell-Escolar, L., & Blasco-López, M. F. (2021). New technology in Museums: AR and VR video games are coming. Communication & Society, 193-210. https://doi.org/10.15581/003.34.2.193-210
Charness, N., & Boot, W. R. (2016). Technology, gaming, and social networking. In Handbook of the Psychology of Aging (pp. 389-407). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-411469-2.00020-0
De Prato, G., Feijóo, C., & Simon, J. P. (2014). Innovations in the video game industry: Changing global markets. Communications & strategies, 94(2), 17-38.
Eliashberg, J., Hennig-Thurau, T., Weinberg, C., & Wierenga, B. (2016). Of video games, music, movies, and celebrities. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 33(2), 241-245. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2016.03.004
Johnson, M. R., & Woodcock, J. (2019). The impacts of live streaming and Twitch. tv on the video game industry. Media, Culture & Society, 41(5), 670-688. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0163443718818363
Rienzo, A., & Cubillos, C. (2020). Playability and player experience in digital games for elderly: A systematic literature review. Sensors, 20(14), 3958.
Sepasgozar, S. M. (2020). Digital twin and Web-based virtual gaming technologies for online education: A case of construction management and engineering. Applied Sciences, 10(13), 4678. https://doi.org/10.3390/app10134678
Zhang, X., Chen, H., Zhao, Y., Ma, Z., Xu, Y., Huang, H., … & Wu, D. O. (2019). Improving cloud gaming experience through mobile edge computing. IEEE Wireless Communications, 26(4), 178-183.
Zeng, Y. (2021, May). How Human Centered AI Will Contribute Towards Intelligent Gaming Systems. In Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (Vol. 35, No. 18, pp. 15742-15743). https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Yilei-Zeng-3/publication/354511185_How_Human_Centered_AI_Will_Contribute_Towards_Intelligent_Gaming_Systems/links/613ba4074e1df271062acd50/How-Human-Centered-AI-Will-Contribute-Towards-Intelligent-Gaming-Systems.pdf
Modern Ethical Issues
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Introduction
Ethics has been a fundamental aspect of the contemporary human society. Indeed, they have been considered as some of the most crucial aspects that should guide the human relations in almost every aspect of their lives. This should explain the immense incorporation of the same in almost every aspect of the society, with almost every institution coming up with a code of ethics aimed at guiding human relations. Needless to say, a wide range of ethical issues come with considerable controversy revolving around their ethical nature. Indeed, there are differing views on how these behaviors or aspects of the society may be. Nevertheless, the ethical and unethical nature will always be determined by the goal the particular issue is about to serve.
Abortion
Abortion comes as one of the most controversial issues as far as ethics are concerned. Like any other modern issue, abortion comes with an ethical, as well as unethical side. One of the ethical aspects pertaining to abortion revolves around the rights of an individual to make choices pertaining to their bodies and what happens to them. It is worth noting that women are require to carry the baby to full term, an aspect that is not only tedious but which also weighs heavily on them. Indeed, pregnancies weigh don heavily on their health, shapes of their bodies, as well as their capacities to undertake certain activities (Kaczor 28). The constitution guarantees that human beings have certain fundamental and inalienable rights, one of which revolves around determining what happens to them or their bodies. In this case, the ethical debate pertaining to abortion revolves around guaranteeing or safeguarding an individual’s capacity to make decisions pertaining to her body and what he or she does with it (Kaczor 33). In addition, it is evident that there are some instances where such pregnancies would be detrimental to the health of the psychological health of the mother (Kaczor 33). For instance, in instances where the pregnancy has resulted from rape, there is high likelihood that the mother will never be at ease with the child and may even end up tormenting him or her upon giving birth.
However, abortion comes as unethical especially considering the fact that it touches on the life of another human being. Indeed, abortion, irrespective of the logic and reason behind it, involves the termination of the life of a human being (Watkins 26). This, undoubtedly, touches on the inalienable or fundamental rights of human beings. Just as the mother may have the right to make her choices pertaining to her body, the kid has the right to live to full term, a right that is inalienable and guaranteed right from the time that he or she is conceived (Watkins 29).
Capital Punishment
Capital punishment also draws considerable controversy especially with regard to the ethics and unethical sides. One of the ethical aspects pertaining to death penalty is based on the utilitarian argument. Indeed, the society is morally obligated to safeguard the welfare of its citizens. Criminals threaten the welfare and safety of the citizens, in which case only by eliminating them would society ensure that they do not trouble the society again (Mandery and Evan 13). In addition, capital punishment comes as one of those things that bring the greatest balance of good over evil. This is especially considering its capacity to deter violent crime. Indeed, common sense dictates that individuals that know the consequences of certain courses of actions will be unwilling to undertake them (Mandery and Evan 15).
However, capital punishment also has an unethical side. This is especially considering that the society is morally obligated to protect human life. Indeed, taking human life would only be permissible in instances where it is a necessary condition to the achievement of the greatest balance of good over evil for all concerned parties (Jacquette 27). Considering the value that he society has placed on life, as well as its obligation to minimize pain and suffering in all possible cases, human beings are duty-bound to look for a less severe alternative to death penalty that would achieve the same goal. In addition, there has been controversy over the criteria used in sentencing people to death (Jacquette 34). Scholars have outlined the fact that capital punishment is not necessarily given to individuals that commit the most heinous crimes rather, in most cases, it is awarded to people that commit crimes against white people. This introduces the aspect of racial discrimination, which brings into question the fairness of the system. Moreover, questions have been raised on the use of a criminal act to punish another criminal act.
Euthanasia
Euthanasia, like other issues touching on human life comes may be considered ethical or unethical depending on the side of the debate. Euthanasia refers to a legal term that underlines medically assisted mercy killing, usually for individuals that hate terminal illnesses that bring immense pain to them. This is, essentially, one of the ways of preventing an individual from suffering unnecessarily (Paterson 32). One of the ethical aspects pertaining to euthanasia revolves around the right of an individual to make decisions pertaining to their lives. Indeed, a large number of people that undergo euthanasia already indicate or give their consent to the termination of their life in order to end their suffering (Paterson 34). In addition, one would examine the quality of life that an individual leads. Life would only be preferable in instances where pain does not supersede or is not more than the happiness that the individuals have. Unfortunately, most patients with terminal illnesses have immense pain that supersedes their happiness. On the same note, these individuals would undoubtedly be dying within a short time, with the remaining time only being filled with suffering and pain (Paterson 37).
However, euthanasia also comes as unethical especially considering the sanctity of human life. Indeed, opponents of euthanasia state that the society has the duty of preserving human life and only having it terminated by natural causes. In any case, if the individuals are terminally ill, it only means that they would not have to suffer for a long time, in which case their lives should be preserved so they can die naturally (Keown 22). In addition, there have been instances where the terminally ill individuals do not have the capacity to make such decisions or even give their consent for the performance of such actions. This is even in instances where they may have insinuated in the past that they would not want to undergo the suffering (Keown 28). Of course, the question remains as to how the doctors would know the point where such pain is unbearable as to necessitate euthanasia.
Human beings and free will
Free will has been one of the most fundamental rights or rather inalienable rights in the contemporary human society. Of particular note are the nature of decisions that they are required to make and the limited nature of their capacity to make them. Free will, as a term, is taken as underlining the fact that human beings have the capacity and freedom to do, fee and think whatever they want irrespective of their age, experience, place of birth, race, creed, religion, personality or other aspects (Wundt 58). On the ethical side, individuals have the freedom to determine the course of their lives and the actions that they take as guaranteed in the constitution. Indeed, human beings have certain fundamental and inalienable rights even in instances where they may be incarcerated (Wundt 60). They should be allowed to make fundamental decisions as to what happens to their bodies, an aspect that underlines full control for everything that happens to them.
On the unethical side, free will is not so free after all. Free will is a creation by man rather than a donation (Markovits 70). It is not something that human beings were born with rather it is their most crucial and deepest task in the middle of the world, as well as the social structure within which man is implicated to attain self-guidance, self-direction and self-independence for himself (Markovits 72). In addition, it is worth noting that there are limits to freewill especially considering the interconnectivity of human actions, in which case, an individual would only be free to undertake certain decisions or activities to the extent that they do not cause harm to other human beings.
Ethics in gay rights
Homosexuality has drawn considerable controversy from numerous quarters. The ethical basis of gay rights revolves around human needs. Human beings have certain needs that must be met prior to other needs (Murphy 32). If heterosexuals meet these needs through meeting the opposite sex, it is hypocritical to deny homosexuals of the opportunity to meet the basic need pertaining to love and a sense of belonging through meeting a person of the same sex that they can marry (Murphy 32). In addition, it gay rights touch on the fundamental human rights pertaining to the capacity of individuals to make decisions on how they should lead their lives.
However, gay rights are unethical especially with regard to their effect on the continuity and sustainability of the society. First, it is noteworthy that homosexuality is in all respects unnatural especially considering that the union of individuals is primarily aimed at forming families, after which those families would interact and make a contribution to the society within which they live (Corvino 44). Indeed, gay rights would not naturally make this contribution to the society. In addition, same sex marriages are primarily against the biblical or religious teachings as to the intentions of God for humanity.
In conclusion, Ethics has been a fundamental aspect of the contemporary human society. Indeed, they have been considered as some of the most crucial aspects that should guide the human relations in almost every aspect of their lives. A wide range of ethical issues come with considerable controversy revolving around their ethical nature. Nevertheless, the ethical and unethical nature will always be determined by the goal the particular issue is about to serve. Indeed, the ethical and unethical nature of gay rights, euthanasia, capital punishment and abortion is subjective as it depends on the goals that they serve.
Works cited
Markovits, Daniel. A Modern Legal Ethics: Adversary Advocacy in a Democratic Age. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 2011. Print.
Wundt, Wilhelm. Ethics: The Facts of Moral Life. New York: Cosimo, Inc., Jun 1, 2006
Paterson, Craig. Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia: A Natural Law Ethics Approach. Aldershot, England: Ashgate, 2008. Print.
Keown, John. Euthanasia, Ethics, and Public Policy: An Argument against Legislation. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Print.
Mandery, Evan J, and Evan J. Mandery. Capital Punishment in America: A Balanced Examination. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2011. Print.
Jacquette, Dale. Dialogues on the Ethics of Capital Punishment. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2009. Print
Kaczor, Christopher. The Ethics of Abortion: Women’s Rights, Human Life, and the Question of Justice. New York: Routledge, 2010. Print
Watkins, Christine. The Ethics of Abortion. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2005. Print.
Murphy, Timothy F. Gay Science: The Ethics of Sexual Orientation Research. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997. Print.
Corvino, John. Same Sex: Debating the Ethics, Science, and Culture of Homosexuality. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999. Print.