The Role Of Respect For Autonomy In Nursing

One of the main objections to autonomy-based justifications of physician-assisted suicide (PAS) that Gill talks about is that many people believe it does not promote autonomy, but instead is actually taking it away (366). First, it is important to clarify what autonomy means. According to Gill, it is the ability of a person to make big decisions regarding their own life (369). Opponents of PAS argue that it takes away a person’s ability to make these big decisions and so it is intrinsically wrong for them to choose to take their own life.

When it comes to the no-duty principle, one must take into account the role of medical ethics, which is understood more by a healthcare professional than that of the law. For example, a licensed physician is not obligated to aid a stranger in medical distress, but many professional believe they have a moral obligation in situation such as this. Under the no-duty principle, unless circumstance, dictate other wise, many physicians feel the obligation to provide some level of quality service, even if they cannot pay for it. Although, no right to health or health care exists in the U.S., certain circumstances "give rise to healthcare rights," and certain groups are entitled to healthcare, or receive generous from

Futility is an ancient term that was used by Hippocrates stating that physicians should “refused treatment for those who are overcome by the disease.” (Kasman, 2004). Physicians are not obligated to continue medical treatment that they deem ineffective or harmful to their patients (Kasman, 2004). Physicians must use their clinical judgment when deciding if treatments are futile. They need to clarify to family and patients between treatments that are ineffective and still provide care that benefits the patients (Kasman, 2004). The physician just doesn’t say no to treatment that they perceive futile but discuss alternatives. The patient and the family still need to be fully informed about the treatments that is considered nonbeneficial and the

For instance, a physician might argue that the injuries were not the result of their medical care and that their care followed their medical professional standards. Alongside challenging the element of negligence, physicians might try to prove that the injuries the plaintiff endured were a result of their own negligence ("Defenses to Medical Malpractice", n.d.). For example, the injuries a patient receives can occur if they do not inform their physician their entire medical history. As a result, they can be prescribed medications or treatments that can cause adverse reactions or injury. This is especially true in instances where physicians may try unconventional forms of treatment to care for their

In the case of Donald (Dax) Cowart, one can determine that the conflict is between Beneficence and Autonomy. The doctors were morally right in choosing to treat Donald despite his autonomy by using the principle of beneficence.

Ethics of healthcare depends on 4 moral standards and how they are utilised; autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence, and justice. Autonomy, which means self-governance, is the rule for regarding the privileges of a person to settle on a choice for them self, and respecting that decision. In healthcare this implies regarding a patient's choice on treatments, regardless of the possibility that it could bring about damage or demise to themselves. Autonomy is about self-rule, control free, without impact or influence from any other person, and is tied in with making an educated and un-forced choice about their care and medicines, based from their qualities and inclinations.

The ethical principle of autonomy provides for respect for the patient’s autonomy to make decisions and choices concerning their life and death. Respecting the patient’s autonomy goes against the principles of beneficence and non-maleficence. There also exists the issue of religious beliefs the patient, family, or the caretaker holds, with which the caretaker has to grapple. The caretaker thus faces issues of fidelity to patient welfare by not abandoning the patient or their family, compassionate provision of pain relief methods, and the moral precept to neither hasten death nor prolong life.

There are many stakeholders involved with health care administrations. Those stakeholders can be patients, health care physician, insurance providers, pharmaceutical manufactures, hospital organizations, community clinics and government. Each different stakeholder has their own individual vision of health care administration. This causes conflict due to the nature and differences in vision. which then can cause conflicts among each stakeholder involved. A patient is going to have a different idea of how a health care should be managed. This in contrast to the way a physician may think the administration should be managed. Furthermore, each different stakeholder involved would have their own ideal reasons to why the health care administration

The historic Hippocratic Oath described the four main principles of medical practice and established a moral conduct for clinicians. Beneficence demands that health care providers develop and maintain skills and knowledge, consider individual circumstances of all patients, and strive for the patient’s benefit. Nonmaleficence requires that a procedure or treatment does not harm the patient involved or others

while taking into consideration a patient's beliefs and wishes regarding all aspects of their health. The

At times, doctors have to choose between the preservation and honor of a patient's dignity or to break ethical guidelines to help the human races’ health. A doctor who puts his patients’ well-being as his priority, usually respects the patient’s wishes. However, many factors influence a person’s decision to conduct an unethical experiment. In the contemporary biography, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot shows that scientists constantly discover and develop new concepts and procedures that help heal numerous people, despite the unethical experiments that they conduct on living organisms.

Non-maleficence is the principle of not harming another person, in a disaster, delay in treatment can do harm, accordingly prompt communication is vital in addressing care needs of a community. Beneficence refers to doing good, and justice refers to equity of distribution of health care resources. In an emergency, Beneficence and Justice can be achieved by efficient and effective triage to allocate limited resources to the neediest patients (Grimaldi, 2007). Grimaldi (2007) states “patients who can be saved and whose lives are in immediate danger should be treated first”

Ethical duties of genetic testing is a challenge among healthcare workers. Ethical dilemmas are created due to situations resulting from genetic testing. Ethical dilemmas is created when genetic testing reveals vital information to a patient and the patient refuses to disclose information to family members that can be affected. Healthcare workers are to protect the privacy of patient’s health records according to the Health Insurance Probability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) (Butts & Rich, 2016). On the other hand, according to the American Nurses Association (ANA) the primary obligation is to achieve the greatest good for the greatest number of people or the population as a whole (Butts & Rich, 2016). Healthcare workers are faced with an ethical choice. The ethical choice for genetic testing is to reveal information to family members if the greatest outcome is beneficial to the family member.

Ethics can be explained as principles a society develops to guide decisions about what is right and wrong. Ethical principles that society has are influenced by religion, history, and experience of the people in the group. Meaning that ethics is based on guidelines we have learned while growing up, that helps us differentiates what is right and what is wrong. For example, some people think health care should be a human right as others think it should only be available to those who can pay for it. Each group of people is guided by the principles they believe in. Ethics in health care play a vital role every day. The practice of health care includes many scenarios that have to do with making adequate decisions when it comes to patient’s life. For the purpose of this paper, I want to explain the occurrence and some of the ethical concerns found in a case of an elderly patient, who believed in Curanderos and didn’t realize the harm she was doing in regards to her health by not taking her medications.

The Right to Die has been taking effect in many states and is rapidly spreading around the world. Patients who have life threatening conditions usually choose to die quickly with the help of their physicians. Many people question this right because of its inhumane authority. Euthanasia or assisted suicide are done by physicians to end the lives of their patients only in Oregon, Washington, Vermont, Montana, New Mexico and soon California that have the Right to Die so that patients don’t have to live with depression, cancer and immobility would rather die quick in peace.