Amelia Wilkerson Ethical Dilemmas

AUTONOMY: According to Mcdonald & Then (2014) “It is not just providing information about the risks and benefits associated with proposed care and treatment, and the skills and expertise of the midwife or nurse providing care that recognises an individual’s autonomy.” The moral duty of nurse is to provide an information to the client and respect the choice of their decision. The Coroner’s inquest clearly shows that none of the nurses provided information to the client and family and did not perform a frequent assessment in the critical situation. The nurses breached the duty of care by not providing autonomous choice to the

(Elliot & Olver, 2008). The principles in acting with the best interest of the other person in mind, showing compassion and taking positive action to help others which relates to the second main principle being beneficence. Likewise, I will discuss non-maleficence, the core of medical oath nursing ethics the principle that “above all do no harm”. Subsequently looking at the overall arch of such principles is the justice which should support fair, equitable and appropriate treatment and or intervention for the individual. A highly stressful time for family regarding decisions that need to be made, while others define the decision as a clinical one, where the doctor will

Evans and the Ohio Department of Corrections failed Tomcik in applying basic ethical theories. Normative and applied ethics were not followed because the minimal standard of care in this case called for palpitation of the breasts, which was not done. If the physician knew that palpitation of the side of Tomcik’s breasts was the correct minimal procedure to detect cancer and he did not complete it, he failed to apply the theory of how he should behave. Deontological ethics were failed as the doctor was duty-bound to “do no harm or injustice”. (Greek Medicine, 2012)

and Michael Q., I strongly believe that Nurse L. was not acting immorally or unprofessionally. I agree with Immanuel Kant’s summarization, “All lies, including those told out of altruistic motives, are wrong.” Michael’s oncologist withheld crucial medical information and alternative treatment options. Had Michael not known about at all his options, his circumstances could have turned out extremely different. Unless Michael had the inability to make his own rational decisions or there was no one to assist him in making the decisions for him where he could not, there were no reasons for the oncologist to withhold information and make the final decision that treatment was the best option for

A moral dilemma that arises in a doctor-patient relationship is whether or not the doctor should always tell their patient the truth about their health. Although withholding information was a common practice in the past, in today’s world, patient autonomy is more important than paternalism. Many still are asking if it is ever morally permissible for a doctor to lie to a patient, though.

In “Should Doctors Tell the Truth,” Joseph Collins presents an argument for why in some cases a physician lying to a patient is a justifiable action, as lying in some cases serves to benefit the patient’s health. Though a physician may certainly be justified in lying to a patient in some cases, Collins’ presentations of justifiable examples of lying do not demonstrate a dedication to achieve or to understand the patient’s best interest. Rather, Collins advocates for a model of the doctor-patient relationship that does not extend consideration to the patient’s autonomy nor to the patient’s expectation of privacy in order to form a paternalistic strategy of treating patients. Moreover, Collins’ position is not normative as it operates on knowledge that cannot be attained preemptively and relies on moral luck for its justification.

Nurses will frequently be put into situations where they are left to determine if they should respect the client’s wishes when these wishes conflict with medically ordered care. “Ethical dilemmas occur when there are conflicting moral claims” (Burkhardt & Nathaniel, 2014, p. 527). Ethical dilemmas help shape nurses by requiring them to think critically about situations and determine the appropriate decision in order to create the best outcome for their patient. It requires them to have moral courage to stand up for what they believe is most safe and ethical in patient care (Murray, 2010). Not only do such dilemmas strengthen their professional thought processes but also reinforces all of their personal and professional values.

Nurses are a group of professionals who faces a variety of ethical dilemmas while working. Therefore, these dilemmas cannot only impact on their personalities but also affect their patients. However, ethical dilemmas are argumentative and difficult to deal with, so there is no “right” or “wrong” answer for them.

According to Masters (2015), “An ethical dilemma is a situation in which an individual is compelled to make a choice between two actions that will affect the well-being of a sentient being, and both actions can be reasonably justified as being good, neither actions is readily justifiable as good, or the goodness of the actions is uncertain” (p. 129).

As an advanced practice nurse, one is bound to be faced with various ethical legal dilemmas that in most cases require urgent decision making that involve both moral and ethical considerations. Ethical dilemmas are basically situations where there are two available courses of action that completely contradict each other. The nurse has no choice but to make a decision between the two choices because each of the two decision choices is equally urgent and each of them seems to be the right one. This is what makes dealing with ethical legal dilemmas very stressful for both new nurses and experienced ones. It is thus noteworthy that as much as advanced practice nurses have a medical responsibility to provide care, they are also expected

Numerous situations present with ethical dilemmas in the field of providing and receiving nursing care. Although laws and regulations are in place to guide healthcare workers in setting up care plans and in making choices while following those, day-to-day events may challenge those choices. Clients and their families may have requests or needs, outside of the plans already set, where values and beliefs are clashing.

When referring to the scenario Mr. Michael Grigio (See Appendix A), the primary issue is that Michael and his family has conflicting emotions towards the results of the test and diagnosis. It is an ethical problem because Amir’s morals conflict with the family’s ethical views. In this situation Amir has to decide whether or not he wants to tell Michael the truth. In order to provide a response we can use relational ethics. The ethical issue at hand is whether the nurse should respect the family’s wishes or disclose the truth to the patient. A nurse’s responsibility is to be professional, stay true to the lawfulness of their profession, and follow the Code of Ethics and hospital’s policy (Punjani, 2013). By telling Michael the truth, Amir will

Nursing is a profession that is physically, mentally, and emotionally challenging. In order to effectively manage these hardships, nurses need to be aware of their shortcomings and seek support from others. Unfortunately, the problem lies in nurses not addressing their sufferings. According to Kelly (1996), “to know something is wrong and say nothing, we indirectly consent to what has occurred and we become a part of the problem” (p. 32). At the beginning of her nursing career, Shalof (2005) expressed her feelings of inadequacy in critical thinking, intuition, and courage (p. 72) but did not open up to others. However, as time progressed and Shalof (2005) became a more experienced nurse, she had the courage to ask for a change in assignment when she felt she was too emotionally involved (p. 106).

Telling the truth or not intestinally deceiving or misleading patient. In this event not telling patient the truth about his choices can dismissed his self-esteem and reliability (Ellis & Hartley, 2012, p. 295). Edwards (2011) acknowledged that “the obligations to respect autonomy include the obligation to be truthful to the patient” (p.107). In given scenario, the physician should be discussing and updating the patient about his prognosis and plan of care, it violates the ethical principle of autonomy by not giving the patient the complete information and therefore no choice to decide for himself the future treatment plans. Edwards (2011) concluded that by keeping the necessary information from the person, the number of choices available to that person is reduced which inhibits her

While a career in nursing is often fulfilling, it doesn’t come without challenges. Regardless of their area of practice, nurses face a variety of ethical dilemmas every day. Burkhardt and Nathaniel (2014) define an ethical dilemma as a problem that requires a choice between two conflicting moral claims. An example of this is when pediatric nurses are caring for terminally ill adolescents who want to stop treatment for their illnesses, but their parents do not. One scenario about a boy named Mike is a perfect example of this type of ethical dilemma.