Ethical Elements in Contemporary Health Care

Elective surgery is a procedure that is unnecessary and is done to prevent a condition that may or may not happen in the future. Some of these procedures include prophylactic mastectomies and elective amputations. The focus of this article is to discuss several ethical issues that occur in contemporary health care systems. One example is unethical behavior of the physicians, psychiatrists, and surgeons that assist or give approval to certain types of medical procedures. In doing so, the foundation of medical ethics is broken since these health care providers have breached the patient protective guidelines inscribed within the Hippocratic Oath. 2 Prophylactic Mastectomy and Elective Amputation The Hippocratic Oath is used as a basis for defining ethical behavior. The Hip-pocratic Oath provides a clear understanding of the ethical practices that must be observed by the medical profession. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the healthcare provider to follow the oath. However, this does not always occur. For example, in the consultation or performance of unnecessary surgery such as th