HOSA hosts first ever interdisciplinary mock ethics case study

Photo by: Hannah Haggerty

By: Jennifer Ortiz

On Wednesday, October 15, 2014, Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) invited students and faculty of different disciplines to discuss ethical issues in the case study “End of Life Health Care Disparity”.

The students who participated in the ethical debate were divided by major. Religious studies, nursing, psychology, ASL, exercise science and health care management were among some of the disciplines represented that evening.

The evening called for an expert faculty member of each discipline to guide the conversation among the small groups of students.

The first 30 minute session allowed the small groups to read the case study and discuss how to approach the problem according to their area of expertise.

Photo by: Hannah Haggerty
Photo by: Hannah Haggerty

After the small group discussions, all the students and faculty in Faith Hall discussed the matter at hand, restating their methods of resolving the ethics case.

In this case study, an 18 year old undocumented immigrant from Central America discovered that she had acute lymphocytic leukemia. She was unable to seek care due to lack of insurance, lack of funds and her immigration status.

While she was in the medical intensive care unit, a family conference was called. She had no family in the United States but her partner, who had to work with an interpreter in order to decide the best plan of action for the patient.

“Something like this has never been done on Gardner-Webb’s campus before. HOSA is such an interdisciplinary club on its own. We wanted to bring everybody together and talk about a topic that would involve different points of view, and be able to work together for a general cause,” said Brittney Mullen—senior, BSN Nursing major and president of HOSA.

Mullen also said events like this are important because it allows students to see that however different several disciplines may be, they all connect with one another in the real world.

HOSA plans to host other events this year including blood drives, fundraisers and HOSA week. For more information about upcoming HOSA events contact Brittney Mullen at [email protected].