Five Days At Memorial Essay

598 Words2 Pages

Moral distress is defined as “when one knows the right thing to do, but institutional constraints make it nearly impossible to pursue the right course of action,” (Butts & Rich, 2022, p.76). In Five Days at Memorial, moral distress certainly occurred among nurses, as Hurricane Katrina brought up a lot of tough situations and choices to be made. The nursing staff all had the desire to give the care they normally provide to their patients, but limited resources and staff made this impossible at times. “The heat and a shortage of diapers and fresh linens had defeated the nursing staff's efforts to keep patients dry and clean. Her skin was raw,” (Fink, 2016, p.193). They also felt powerless and drained from seeing so much suffering and loss. One …show more content…

LifeCare patients had their own part of the hospital and consisted of older patients there for long-term care. This label led them to be seemingly disregarded in many ways. “...even Memorial's less sick patients were being prioritized over LifeCares, generally very sick ones,” (Fink, 2016, p.100). These decisions reflected how many did not view LifeCare patients as worthy of care or resources. As evacuation continued, someone aiding in loading the helicopters stated, “We need more viable patients. y'all can’t keep bringing patients like this to us,” (Fink, 2016, p.125). This highlights a problematic attitude, which is dehumanizing and shows a lack of compassion. An assisting therapist was offended by this comment and found it particularly derogatory, as the patients he cared for on LifeCare were “like this” (Fink, 2016). Hearing opinions like these may have caused moral distress among nurses who care for LifeCare patients. Further, moral distress may have also been experienced by nurses as they watched some doctors provide lethal injections to patients. In this situation, a nurse may be unable to stop other nurses or providers from administering lethal doses of Morphine to patients, particularly in such a time of

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