Towards Healthier Decision Making: A call for a multi criteria approach

Abstract

Recently, the pages of the newspapers have been filled with many disturbing headlines about the health sector crisis, and especially professional staff working at the public hospitals. The scandal of Dr Patel at the Bundaberg Hospital and the unqualified Russian refugee who posed as a psychiatrist and treated more then 250 mental patients are only a few examples of a Health sector with significant problems. In order to cure the current situation of the Health sector, more is required than just changing a few senior managers as "scapegoats". There is therefore a vital need for a more ethical approach to decision making at all levels of the organization. In this atmosphere of uncertainty and unhappiness in relation to the Health sector, decision makers in the health sector need a decision making tool that would assist them in making more ethical decisions. In order to meet that need a multi criteria framework for decision makers that combines a variety of ethical principles has been developed. This paper refers to that ethical multi criteria framework as "Healthier Decision", and it incorporates ideologies derived from four schools of moral philosophies such as Egoism, Utilitarian, Virtue Ethics and Deontology. Thus, the multi criteria for Healthier Decision, varies from Guaranteeing that no one’s dignity will be violated, to Maintaining at all times a fair process that allows everyone to state their opinions no matter if they are minor or major stakeholders.