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Resolving ethical dilemmas
The importance of working to ethical and professional standards in health care
The importance of working to ethical and professional standards in health care
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In general, four main principles outline the ethical duties of a health care professional (Morrison, 2015). They include: Autonomy: to respect the staff members and patients, to give them the freedom to make their own decisions. Beneficence: to aim to benefit staff and patient’s health. Non-maleficence: to not inflict harm on patients and staff. Justice: to treat all the patients and staff members fairly, and equally distribute required resources as much as possible. Evidently, in this case, there was a violation in two of the above principles, Autonomy and Nonmaleficence. Autonomy: Autonomy is “concerned with how individuals are viewed and treated within the healthcare system” (Morrison, 2016, p. 32). Every individual in the health care …show more content…
Although Lawanda Person never intended to do any harm, her careless attitude and negligence towards checking medication before injecting the contents of a syringe into an IV line led to unintentional death of the patient. In her urgency to save the life of a patient, Lawanda ignored an important procedure. Without any further thinking, Lawanda injected the medication given by the nurse beside her. This clearly shows that Lawanda was not the only person to make an error here. The nurse who was responsible for procuring the drug failed to check to make sure that she had the appropriate medication before handing it over to Lawanda. Both Lawanda and the nurse who assisted her should have verified the medication before injecting it into the patient. So that harm would have been prevented from occurring. Therefore, periodic staff education concerning their responsibilities or actions, evaluation of staff duties by the management, following well-designed protocols of ethical conduct, taking advice from the ethics committee members when faced with challenging nonmaleficence situations, would be a potential solution to prevent such ethical issues in future (Morrison, …show more content…
“Health administrators have an ethical obligation to provide a working environment that is safe and does not harm employees” (Morrison, 2016, p. 56). It was not ethical from the supervisor’s perspective to blame Lawanda alone for the error without knowing the actual underlying cause of the situation. The supervisor accused Lawanda of killing the patient and warned her that she should report herself to the state board of nursing. Threatening the novice nurse with jail time and suspension was not correct. The supervisor demonstrated a lack of empathy towards Lawanda and harassed her, ordering her to finish the shift without understanding her feelings of grief. The supervisor’s actions led to the death of Lawanda. This explains that the supervisor caused an intended harm to Lawanda through her actions, which is unethical. Hence, it is the responsibility of a health care administrator to promote a healthy work environment that is free from harassment, imposition, and discrimination (ACHE Code of Ethics,
Alan Goldman argues that medical paternalism is unjustified except in very rare cases. He states that disregarding patient autonomy, forcing patients to undergo procedures, and withholding important information regarding diagnoses and medical procedures is morally wrong. Goldman argues that it is more important to allow patients to have the ability to make autonomous decisions with their health and what treatment options if any they want to pursue. He argues that medical professionals must respect patient autonomy regardless of the results that may or may not be beneficial to a patient’s health. I will both offer an objection and support Goldman’s argument. I will
Patient autonomy was the predominant concern during the time of publication of both Ezekiel and Linda Emanuel, and Edmund D. Pellegrino and David C. Thomasma's texts. During that time, the paternalistic model, in which a doctor uses their skills to understand the disease and choose a best course of action for the patient to take, had been replaced by the informative model, one which centered around patient autonomy. The latter model featured a relationship where the control over medical decisions was solely given to the patient and the doctor was reduced to a technical expert. Pellegrino and Thomasma and the Emanuel’s found that the shift from one extreme, the paternalistic model, to the other, the informative model, did not adequately move towards an ideal model. The problem with the informative model, according to the Emanuel’s, is that the autonomy described is simple, which means the model “presupposes that p...
This provides people with control over their health care when they cannot speak for themselves. In other words, a health care directive is a legal document recognized by a legislative body to promote autonomy (The Health Care Directives Act, 1992). Autonomy is described as the quality to function independently (Mosby, 2013). Autonomy is the fundamental concept of health care directives, it allows people to openly express their personal values and beliefs, without judgement of health care decisions, “…autonomous decisions as those made intentionally and with substantial understanding and freedom from controlling influences” (Entwistle, Carter, Cribb, & McCaffery, 2010). When all information is provided, the individual can make an informed decision about their health care and have a right to no influencing factors. The health care directive document provide people the opportunity to consent to or refuse treatment and who will have the authority to make decisions on the individual’s behalf if unconscious, or mental incapacity arise (The Health Care Directives Act, 1992). In order to fully practice autonomy, especially in regards to health care directives, the appropriate mental development is key to comprehending
In this essay the author will rationalize the relevance of professional, ethical and legal regulations in the practice of nursing. The author will discuss and analyze the chosen scenario and critically review the action taken in the expense of the patient and the care workers. In addition, the author will also evaluates the strength and limitations of the scenario in a broader issue with reasonable judgement supported by theories and principles of ethical and legal standards.
We know that a majority of our profession is made up of highly educated and trained professionals; colleagues who advocate for patient autonomy and patient-centered care (the patient’s right and ability to make their own informed decisions). Similarly, as nurses, we have the right and the ability to deliver autonomously holistic primary nursing care. Both nursing and patient autonomy allow for the healthy development of a respectful partnership: a relationship that can foresee and respond to patient/family needs (e.g., physical comfort, emotional, informational, cultural, spiritual, and learning needs) (Finkelman & Kenner, 2016, p. 274).
Personal autonomy refers to the capacity to think, decide and act on one's own free initiative (Patient confidentiality & divulging patient information to third parties, 1996). For a patient’s choice to be an autonomous choice, the patient must make his choice voluntarily (free of controlling constraints), his choice must be adequately informed, and the patient must have decision-making capacity (he must be competent) (Paola, 2010), therefore Physicians and family members should help the patient come to his own decision by providing full information; they should also uphold a competent, adult patient's decision, even if it appears medically wrong (Patient confidentiality & divulging patient information to third parties, 1996).
Autonomy is a concept found in moral, political, and bioethical reasoning. Inside these connections, it is the limit of a sound individual to make an educated, unpressured decision. Patient autonomy can conflict with clinician autonomy and, in such a clash of values, it is not obvious which should prevail. (Lantos, Matlock & Wendler, 2011). In order to gain informed consent, a patient
The Lewis Blackman Case: Ethics, Law, and Implications for the Future Medical errors in decision making that result in harm or death are tragic and costly to the families affected. There are also negative impacts to the medical providers and the associated institutions (Wu, 2000). Patient safety is a cornerstone of higher-quality health care and nurses serve as a communication link in all settings which is critical in surveillance and coordination to reduce adverse outcomes (Mitchell, 2008). The Lewis Blackman Case 1 of 1 point accrued
Autonomy is identified as another professional value and one that the nurse must possess. Autonomy is the right to self-determination. Nurse’s respect the patient’s right to make a decision regarding their healthcare. Practical application includes, educating patients and their families on their choices, honoring their right to make their own decision and stay in control of their health, developing care plans in collaboration with the patient (Taylor, C. Lillis, C. LeMone, P. Lynn, P,
Autonomy is known as free-will, freely allowing their patient to form their own opinion about their own
There are many incidents in the healthcare field where a patient or a worker can be injured or their safety is at risk. This 32 year old nurse at the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF). She works towards the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. When she finished her studies in nursing, she was an intern at Kinshasa’s General Provincial Referral Hospital where she first contracted HIV. One day, she accidentally pricked herself with a needle used on a HIV positive patient. She was unaware that this patient was HIV positive, but she reported the incident to her nursing officer. When she told him what happened, he advised her to get get a blood test. Her results were negative. Her intern year was over and she
The patients under Sarah’s care have the right and expect safe and effective care. The superiors have the right to a competent employee who will not cause harm to the patients and/or the facility. The facility has the right to expect non-dangerous actions by their employees. As a friend I would want to further investigate and even give my friend a chance to explain their situation. However, as a future professional nurse I know what my duties are. I know that every action has a consequence. If I do not report what I saw I risk my license; if Sarah manages to cause harm to a patient. If I report her I risk losing the trust of a friend. I would risk a reputation of tattling. I would ultimately risk my friendship with Sarah. According to the American Nurses association (ANA, 2015), the code of ethics has 9 major provisions. Specifically, provisions three and five are what a nurse professional would look into for this situation. Provision Three: The nurse promotes, advocates for and strives to protect the health, safety, and rights of the patient (ANA, 2015). This provision clearly states that as a nurse my ethical duty is to provide protection and safety to my patients. If I refused to report
Several ethical principles that are incorporated in the nursing care of patients on a daily basis are nonmalificence, autonomy, beneficence, justice, fidelity and paternalism. Nurses should strive to comply to as many of the principles as possible. In this case there are principles which support and conflict with the wishes of the patient. The first principle that supports the wish of the patient is autonomy. Autonomy means that competent patients have the right to make decisions for themselves and the delivery of the healthcare that they receive. Another factor that would support the patient’s wish to not be resuscitated is nonmalificence. Non maleficence means that nurses should not cause harm or injury to their patients. In this case the likelihood of injury after resuscitation was greater than if the patient were allowed to expire. A principle that could have negatively affected the outcome of the provision of ethical care was paternalism. Paternalism is when a healthcare provider feels that they know what is best for a patient, regardless of the patient’s desire for their own care. I demonstrated the principle of paternalism because I thought that I knew what was best for the patient without first consulting with the patient or family. This situation might have had some very negative consequences had the patient not have been competent. Practicing a paternalistic mindset might have caused a practitioner in the same instance to force their ideas about not resuscitating the loved one onto the family. This could have caused a sense of remorse and loss of control of care amongst the
Autonomy is defined is defined as having control over one’s self. This has become the governing principle that healthcare providers strive to practice when it comes to their relationships with their patients. Giving patients the controls over their own body allows them to choose the direction they believe will be best for them, while also allowing the provider to ethically respect their decision even if they may not personally agree with it. In contrast, another approach to the healthcare provider, patient relationship is paternalism. Were autonomy has the patient steering the wheel of decision making, paternalism gives the keys to the healthcare provider. Paternalism has the healthcare providers making all the decisions, sometimes without
It is a philosophical account of justified action. Ethics and human rights are essential in health care. Nurse should make decision followed by ethical principles. Individuals have right to make decision their selves and their beliefs. The ethical dilemma create in Mark’s case is that his life is very critical so he needs blood transfusion treatment. Medical staff try to save Mark’s life and they are preparing units of blood. However, He is Jehovah’s Witness religion so he cannot receive blood transfusion. This situation creates ethical dilemma for the nurse. In the center point of Human rights is, inheriting dignity and equal worth of all human. Person who is the capable to decide, nurse should consider that wish. As per autonomy ethical principle, the nurse should respect the patient’s decision, dignity, values and wishes. The nurse should not harm the patient. Medical treatment Act 1988 Victoria informs that if patient is conscious and adult, he can choose refusal of treatment. If medical staff still continue the procedure, they would have charges for assault or battery law because of harming the patient. Nurse should also follow the code of ethics and code of conduct guideline. The nurses always respect the dignity, culture, values and belief pf patient as well as their