Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Case Study

On Sunday, a nurse on a medical/surgical floor in a large private hospital is assigned as the primary nurse to a woman who was just admitted. The woman’s testing begins on Monday and the primary nurse does not have work for the next few days. The nurse returns on Saturday and goes over the woman’s charts. The nurse discovers that the woman has chronic lymphocytic leukemia and is being treated for the disease. After approaching the woman the nurse realizes that the woman is unaware of her diagnoses as she asks the nurse when she will be able to return to work. The nurse explains that she has not yet spoken with the physician and will get back to her once she has done so. On your way back to the nurses' station, one of the woman's two daughters approaches the nurse and urges the nurse to assure her mother that there is no reason for concern. The daughter explains that her mother has just been through a painful divorce and

The nurse should not inform the patient of her leukemia. The nurse has not been observing the patient long enough to use her assumption that the patient is mentally sound as a means to justify telling the patient stressful information. The nurse ought to follow the physicians instruction to refrain from giving the patient news about their chronic lymphocytic leukemia. This resolution follows with my own moral intuitions. If someone is not in a healthy mental state, it would not be morally permissible to provide information to that person which could cause their mental state to worsen. Although in most cases it is obligatory for a moral agent to always tell the whole truth in accordance with the prima facie principle of honesty, the principle of beneficence in moral situations similar to this one overrides the principle of honesty. One’s own health and well-being is more important than answering their questions to the fullest knowledge