Physical Restraints Case Study

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Ethical Practice: Physical Restraints and Planned Parenthood
Nurses face ethical issues every day. Knowing how to spot them and respond appropriately to them is so important that it’s taught early on in nursing school and continues throughout the nurse’s career. Ethics is defined as “the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation” (Merriam-Webster, 2017). What is “good” and “bad” have different meanings for some people. Because of this, several codes of ethics have been created as a general guideline for medical professionals. There are several different ethical dilemmas a nurse can face during his or her career. I am going to discuss two of those: physical restraints and planned parenthood.
Physical
While this is essentially true, there comes a point where the safety of the patient takes precedence. Some may even see it as the patient being treated like a prisoner. Restraints are currently only used as a last resort. If the patient is at a tremendous risk of harming themselves, restraints may be the only thing appropriate. When I think of physical restraints, the first thing that comes to mind is protecting a patient from falls. The use of restraints are for so much more than that. Think about the patient who is constantly trying to pull tubes out that are attached to them. What if the patient is pulling out a endotracheal tube or central line? This could cause problems that are fatal. What if a patient keeps messing with their sutures from a major surgery and the wound ends up dehiscing or becoming severely infected? There are so many different indications for restraints to protect
This could include keeping patient confidentiality, being trustworthy, keeping promises, and simply “doing what is right.” Every action a nurse performs should be done with fidelity. A confused patient may not trust a nurse after restraints were applied, so fidelity, in this case, may be strained.
Another topic that is currently trending as a major ethical dilemma is Planned Parenthood. There are many groups determined to shut the organization down. Planned parenthood describes themselves as the nation’s most trusted reproductive health care. They advertise that they provide vital reproductive health care, sex education, and vital information to millions around the world (Who We Are, 2017). Just reading their description, many would wonder why there is such a dilemma. The major ethical problem with them is that they perform

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