Quote from Captain Corlli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres

Ethics With the facts given on eating disorders……. Where do Ethics come into play ?...

Ethics …and who gets to judge the problems that arise?

Scenario – Regulation of Studies With the limited amount of money funded for eating disorders, studies arise with various aspects of testing Drugs Methods Behavioral Issues Etc….

Scenario – Regulation of Studies In a study conducted in a “Eating Lab” for Bulimia, subjects were allowed to binge and purge in an attempt to study this eating habit.

Scenario – Regulation of Studies Knowing the danger of such a habit. Is it ethical to let a subject undergo such a regimen for the good of the study?

Scenario – Treatment Aspects Force feeding in the UK has been recognized by the Mental Health Commission as a legitimate therapy under section 63 of the UK Mental Health Act of 1983.

Scenario – Treatment Aspects  The Universal Declaration of Human Rights includes: Article 3: Everyone has the right to life, liberty and the security of person. Article 5: No one should be subject to torture, or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Scenario – Treatment Aspects An patient comes in for a physical. The doctor determines the patient is anorexic and wants to treat this aggressively. The patient refuses.

Scenario – Treatment Aspects  Can a person in the midst of an eating disorder make competent decisions about their quality of life?  Should she be force fed ?  What circumstances might be appropriate for disregarding an individuals autonomy?

Scenario – Legal Aspects The care and treatment of children and adolescents are dealt with in the Infants Act of No lower age limit for the capacity for consent is specified in the Act, but in hospitals due to reports the age of 12 is generally considered to be the age that children can understand the implications of the process of informed consent.

Scenario – Legal Aspects A child is thought to be anorexic, and is constantly working out in the school gym. School officials recognize the problem.

Scenario – Legal Aspects  Should people who are anorexic or bulimic be allowed to workout at gyms or be denied due to their disorder?  If the school does not take action, are they liable for the child’s deteriorated health ?

Scenario – Who Pays ?  In-Patient Treatment Programs The patient stays 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in a hospital, residential, or therapeutic facility for the duration of intensive treatment Treatments of this sort are deemed expensive, and the going rate for the town the patient resides in is $ a day.

Scenario – Who Pays ?  The patient has Medicaid, which studies have shown paid 2.7 billion dollars in Obesity related coverage's in  Insurances normally do not cover such expenditures.

Scenario – Who Pays ? In an article regarding ethics, and it’s evolution; lifestyle issues arose. It suggested that smoking related illnesses should not be treated in the National Health Service since they brought it upon themselves. It was also suggested that obesity may soon be seen the same way.

Scenario – Who Pays ?  Should the insurance company pay for such a treatment ?  How are ethics evolution going to effect public policy?

Scenario – Who should regulate ? Studies suggest that the media plays a prominent role in the increase of teenagers with eating disorders.

Scenario – Who should regulate ? The media via numerous methods, is constantly bombarding teenagers, especially females, with visual images of thin bodies being beautiful.

Scenario – Who should regulate ? o Knowing the effect the media and images have on young teenagers, does this method of distorting images to make models thinner go against the ethical principle of non- maleficence? o Beneficence?

Scenario – Who should regulate ? o Should this behavior be respected as the magazine or media’s autonomy?