Identify A Critical Issue In The 21st Century Regarding Heal ✓ Solved

Identify a critical issue in the 21st century regarding heal

Identify a critical issue in the 21st century regarding healthcare ethics and reform. Your essay should detail how healthcare providers and/or members of a healthcare ethics committee can impact change in these areas for a more equitable healthcare system. Defend an opinion on the critical issues facing the U.S. healthcare system in the 21st century. Discuss how an ethics committee works to resolve healthcare issues. Discuss healthcare reform and the U.S. government’s impact on critical issues. Part2 NEEDS TO BE ONE PARAGRAPH LONG How are the ethical principles of nonmaleficence and beneficence violated by ransomware that could be in a healthcare organization's information system?

Paper For Above Instructions

Introduction

A pressing critical issue in 21st-century healthcare ethics and reform is the intersection of health equity and cybersecurity threats—particularly ransomware attacks on healthcare infrastructure. Cyberattacks disrupt clinical operations, compromise patient data, and can limit access to care for vulnerable populations, thereby raising ethical concerns around justice, nonmaleficence, beneficence, and autonomy (Beauchamp & Childress, 2019). This essay defends the position that strengthening cybersecurity and embedding equity-focused policies into health reform are essential for an ethical, resilient U.S. healthcare system. It explains how healthcare providers and ethics committee members can drive change, outlines how ethics committees operate to resolve issues, and examines the role of healthcare reform and government action in addressing these critical problems.

The Critical Issue: Cybersecurity Threats and Health Equity

Ransomware and other cyber threats present direct risks to patient safety and the equitable delivery of healthcare services. Attacks can force emergency departments to divert patients, postpone procedures, and restrict access to electronic health records (EHRs) essential for continuity of care (HHS Office for Civil Rights, 2021). These disruptions disproportionately harm underserved communities who already face barriers to care, amplifying disparities rooted in socioeconomic status, geography, and race (Williams & Cooper, 2020). From an ethical standpoint, the combination of technological vulnerability and preexisting inequities places an obligation on institutions and policymakers to prioritize resilience and fairness in reform initiatives (World Health Organization, 2019).

How Healthcare Providers and Ethics Committee Members Can Impact Change

Healthcare providers and members of ethics committees are positioned to influence both clinical practices and institutional policy. Clinicians can advocate for investments in secure, interoperable EHRs, standardized contingency protocols, and staff training in cyber-hygiene to minimize patient risk during an incident (NIST, 2018). Ethics committee members can translate ethical principles into operational policy by recommending triage protocols that protect the most vulnerable when systems are degraded and by advising on data breach communication strategies that respect patient autonomy and privacy (Dudzinski et al., 2016). Through interdisciplinary collaboration—bringing together IT, clinical, legal, and ethicist perspectives—providers and committees can develop policies that balance patient safety, equity, and resource allocation during and after cyber incidents.

Defending an Opinion on Critical Issues Facing U.S. Healthcare

The U.S. healthcare system must treat cybersecurity and equity as coequal priorities in reform. I argue that without integrating cybersecurity resilience into broader reform efforts—such as universal access, payment reform, and social determinants initiatives—reform will fail to protect the populations most at risk. Cybersecurity is not a technical luxury but a public-health imperative: outages can cause direct harm and exacerbate disparities by interrupting care in already under-resourced settings (KFF, 2021). Prioritizing cybersecurity investments targeted to safety-net providers, coupled with policy reforms that reduce financial and access disparities, is ethically necessary to ensure justice and beneficence for all patients (Institute of Medicine, 2001).

How an Ethics Committee Works to Resolve Healthcare Issues

Clinical ethics committees typically function to identify, analyze, and recommend actions on ethical dilemmas. They follow structured deliberation: case identification, fact-finding, stakeholder engagement, ethical analysis using established principles (autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, justice), and recommendation formulation (Dudzinski et al., 2016). In a ransomware scenario, a committee would convene cross-functional stakeholders to determine triage priorities, patient communication strategies, and policies for use of downgraded systems or manual processes. They may also develop retrospective policy recommendations (e.g., mandating backup systems, equitable triage protocols, and breach response plans) and advocate for resource allocation that guards against disproportional harm to marginalized groups (Beauchamp & Childress, 2019).

Healthcare Reform and U.S. Government’s Impact

Government action is pivotal in promoting policy levers that align cybersecurity with equity-driven reform. Federal standards, funding, and regulations can incentivize robust cybersecurity for all providers, including community clinics and rural hospitals with limited budgets (HHS, 2021). Programs that tie cybersecurity compliance to reimbursement, grants, or disaster relief can reduce gaps between large systems and safety-net institutions (NIST, 2018). Additionally, legislation that supports universal coverage or financial protections enhances system resilience by reducing the differential impact of service disruptions on uninsured or underinsured patients (Gostin, 2020). Finally, public-private partnerships and federal guidance on incident reporting and coordinated response strengthen national capacity to mitigate attacks and protect vulnerable populations (World Health Organization, 2019).

Practical Recommendations

Concrete steps include: (1) embedding cybersecurity risk assessments into ethics committee reviews and institutional strategic planning; (2) allocating federal funds to support cybersecurity upgrades at safety-net institutions; (3) mandating equitable contingency protocols and transparent communication plans; (4) training clinicians in manual care workflows and ethical triage when systems fail; and (5) creating legal protections and incentives that encourage reporting and collaboration rather than punitive isolation after breaches (HHS Office for Civil Rights, 2021; NIST, 2018). These measures align ethical principles with practical reform objectives to better protect patients and support equitable care.

Conclusion

The intersection of cybersecurity threats and health inequities is a critical 21st-century challenge that demands integrated ethical and policy responses. Healthcare providers and ethics committees can drive meaningful change by translating ethical principles into institutional policies and advocating for reform that centers equity and resilience. Government leadership through funding, standards, and regulation is essential to ensure that all institutions—especially those serving vulnerable populations—possess the cybersecurity capacity necessary to fulfill obligations of beneficence, nonmaleficence, justice, and respect for persons. Prioritizing these combined efforts will help build a more ethical and equitable healthcare system for the 21st century.

Part 2: Nonmaleficence and Beneficence Violations by Ransomware

Ransomware attacks violate nonmaleficence by causing foreseeable harm to patients through delayed care, canceled procedures, and disrupted access to critical medical information; these harms may result in worsened outcomes or avoidable morbidity (HHS Office for Civil Rights, 2021). Beneficence is also compromised because clinicians and institutions are hindered from acting in patients' best interests when electronic decision-support tools, medication records, or imaging are unavailable, and when resources are diverted to system recovery rather than patient care (Emsisoft, 2020). Additionally, when underserved facilities are disproportionately affected, the ethical obligation to promote good and prevent harm is undermined unevenly, violating principles of justice and institutional duties to vulnerable populations (Williams & Cooper, 2020). Thus, ransomware both directly harms patients and obstructs clinicians' ability to provide beneficial care, creating a moral imperative for systemic safeguards and equitable resource allocation (Beauchamp & Childress, 2019; NIST, 2018).

References

• Beauchamp, T. L., & Childress, J. F. (2019). Principles of Biomedical Ethics (8th ed.). Oxford University Press.
• World Health Organization. (2019). World Health Report: Universal health coverage—time to deliver. WHO.
• Institute of Medicine. (2001). Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century. National Academies Press.
• Gostin, L. O. (2020). Health Justice: A Framework for the Role of Law and Health. Public Health Reviews, 41(1), Article 1.
• Williams, D. R., & Cooper, L. A. (2020). COVID-19 and health equity—A new kind of “herd immunity.” New England Journal of Medicine, 383(19), e110.
• U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Office for Civil Rights. (2021). Health Care Cybersecurity and Ransomware Guidance. HHS.
• National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). (2018). Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity. NIST.
• Emsisoft. (2020). The State of Ransomware in Healthcare 2020. Emsisoft Research.
• Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF). (2021). Key Facts about the U.S. Health Care System. KFF.
• Dudzinski, D. M., et al. (2016). Clinical ethics committees: A guide to structure and function. Bioethics Forum, 32(2), 45–58.