The Dignity of the Human Person in the Face of Competing Interests

Abstract

In this thesis, I am going to explore some of the significant legal and medical activities that have had a great influence on the healthcare delivery in the United States of America, focusing on the care of people that are severely sick or those whose death is imminent. Then I will discuss how the application of virtues, particularly the cardinal virtues, can inspire people not to neglect the needs of patients whenever some helpful procedures could be done, and also to enable people to desist from engaging in medical procedures that could be deemed futile. Patients and their caregivers can all benefit from cultivating virtue and hence create a way of life that respects the human dignity of patients and also uses the available resources prudently for the sake of the common good. Ultimately, I hope to suggest some theologically sound proposals that are helpful to a patient, the patient’s family and the rest of the country’s health system, with a particular focus on an ethical way of delivering healthcare services. I will show how the developments in the Western world can be applied to develop some protocols of healthcare delivery that could be helpful to Kenya. It is my belief that the universal applicability of virtues can ensure that healthcare activities uphold the human dignity of patients, provide respect for healthcare work, and also use a country’s limited resources prudently.