Brain Dead Patients Ethical Dilemma

An ethical dilemma is a difficult situation that usually involves a conflict between moral obligations, in which to obey one would result in disobeying another (Murphy, 1997). Sedation is an ethical dilemma in palliative care because on one side it helps to relieve suffering for patients who are terminally ill and almost at the end of their lives. However, at the same time, sedation is making the patient deprived of certain bioethical principles such as autonomy, the main issue with palliative sedation is that it prohibits the patient from changing his or her decision, once sedation is commenced and informed consent also becomes complex (Cooney, 2005). The writer is in the favour of palliative sedation because it is an effective symptom controlled strategy for the patients who are nearly at the end of their lives. Moreover, it is believed that by providing sedation to a patient induce unconsciousness, which makes the patient completely unaware of the external world and tend to reduce the suffering by considering ethical and moral principles. However, some people think palliative sedation as euthanasia, which cause death because of making the patient deprive of nutrition and hydration while giving sedation. Ethical principles are going to be discussed in this essay such as autonomy, beneficence, non- maleficence and justice. Moreover, this essay also going to put light on current research

Symptom management of Dementia at end of life is often sub-optimal, although symptom burdens may be similar to cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or advanced heart failure. Dementia may exist with several co-morbid conditions, and death may occur from various causes (Jones et al., 2015). Ethical issues arise in the work place a lot and they are something that can be hard to navigate your way around. Knowing what the right thing to do can be a hard decision to make as a nurse. There are many aspects that go into making an ethical decision when it comes to your patients well being. Ethical issues are not black and white, they are complex, and the right decision might not be the easiest one to make. Dementia is

ETHICAL DILEMMAS FACING NURSES ON END-OF-LIFE ISSUES BASED ON CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS HELD IN ELDORET, KENYA

According to the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, the Affordable care Act from President Obama gives consumers more options and benefits when seeking coverage from insurance company. It offers lowering cost as well as gets more access to high quality of care. This law creates Patient’s Bill of Rights that is very effective to protect consumers from any abuses or fraud from insurance company. Some preventive services are available to many Americans especially Medicare recipients at no cost. Not just that, they also receive a special offer of 50 percent discount for any well-known drugs in the market place under Medicare named “donut hole.” The Affordable Care Act helps other organizations and programs to convince healthcare providers

Does one try to save a premature baby who has little chance of survival? When do doctors or family members decide to "pull the plug" on a loved one? When is organ donation the correct choice? Is this patient the one on which God will choose to perform a miracle? What about a postmortem delivery? Is it realistic to be able to have a child postmortem?

According to the Upfront magazine by the year 2017, the world may be facing a real life Frankenstein. Physician Sergio Canavero claims that “he can give paralyzed people or those with cancer a new life by removing their heads and transplanting them onto healthy bodies donated by brain-dead patients” (4). There are many problems with Canavero’s claim: firstly, people believe Canavero is trying to play God, secondly, the ethical problem of experimenting animals, and lastly, the question of how the transplanted person would be treated by society. These ethical issues are the principles issues of bioethics, which is the study the ethics of medical and biological research. While bioethics is a recently new field, the principle issues have been around since the age of scientific revolution. The years following the scientific revolution were filled with many writers whom wished to warn society about advancing medical procedures.

Identify and explain two ethical issues/dilemmas in healthcare as identified and discussed in the scholarly literature (ProQuest, EBSCO,

An ethical dilemma that I have dealt with when caring for someone with dementia would be when the person with dementia asks for a loved one that is no longer living. When someone with dementia asks about someone that has passed away it is very hard to tell them the truth. There are two things that someone can do in this situation. The dilemma here would be to lie to the person with dementia and tell him or her that their loved one is still alive when they ask for them and go along with what they are talking about or to tell them the truth about their loved one over and over again when they asks for them.

In this paper I will defend ethics and palliative care as they pertain to end of life treatment of terminally ill patients. Aggressive medical administration of the terminally ill patient has created critical issues in the morals of end of life consideration. In summary, I will defend this hypothesis by arguing that the following principles, autonomy, beneficence, and justice must all be taken into consideration when treating a terminally ill patient.

The ethical dilemma I encountered at my placement involves a male in his late-sixties, who has recently suffered a stroke. Mr. A’s situation is unique as he has been unable to speak and his cognitive abilities have declined since. The Fraser Health agency protocol is to contact the patient’s family to determine who would be the temporary substitute decision makers (“Information for temporary substitute,” 2015). The health care consent and care facility admission act describes how decisions are to be made if a patient is determined incapable (Nidus Personal Planning Resource Centre, 2012). The next steps required liaising with the home health team in the community to determine if Mr. A had ever listed any family members as his emergency contacts.

Nonetheless, the number of people with dementia, has continued to expand at an exceptional rate. In considering this difficult ethical issue, it is worth remembering words stated by Brody "We seem to have forgotten the difference between people who die because they stop taking in food and water, and people who stop taking in food and water because of the natural dying process"(Brody, 2011). Healthcare professionals are essential when implementing and influencing nutritional care. It is important to note however that, as a society it is necessary to acquire the knowledge and understanding of dementia. The more we educate ourselves in how the brain process can impact the way we eat and drink, the better the practice and understanding we can

Sometimes good intentions can prove to be a barrier. For instance, fear of what healthcare professionals will do with the information that is disclosed can keep a patient from being honest about their problems, thus the wrong treatment can be given, or no treatment given at all. This can be detrimental for the patient and the community. To give accurate care it is imperative that as much information concerning the crisis that is presenting be given and a detailed history. This could impact the healthcare team as well.

According to Benatar, the ordinary "standard of care" against which new intercessions are tried in restorative research has not been formally characterized and is typically interpreted as meaning the "best demonstrated treatment" for any condition under scrutiny in a trial (Benatar, 2000).

Everyday, healthcare professionals are faced with ethical dilemmas in their workplace. These ethical dilemmas need to be addressed in order to provide the best care for the patient. Healthcare professionals have to weigh their own personal beliefs, professional beliefs, ethical understandings, and several other factors to decide what the best care for their patient might be. This is illustrated in Mrs. Smith’s case. Mrs. Smith is an 85 year old who has suffered from a large stroke that extends to both of her brains hemispheres which has left her unconscious. She only has some brain stem reflexes and requires a ventilator for support. She is unable to communicate how she wishes to proceed with her healthcare. Mrs. Smith’s children, Sara and Frank have different views regarding their mother’s plan of care. The decision that needs to be made is whether to prolong Mrs. Smith’s life, as Sara would like to do, or stop all treatments and care, as Frank feels his mother would want. In the healthcare field, there are situations similar to this case that happen daily where moral and ethical judgment is necessary to guide the decision that would be best for the patient. The purpose of this paper is to explore and discuss, compare and contrast the personal and professional values, ethical principles, and legal issues regarding Mrs. Smith’s quality of life and further plan of care.

Ethics, in medicine, is described as applying one’s morals and values to healthcare decisions (Fremgen 2012). It requires a critical-thinking approach that examines important considerations such as fairness for all patients, the impact of the decision on society and the future repercussions of the decision (Fremgen 2012). According to Fremgen (2012), bioethics concerns ethical issues discussed in the perspective of advanced medical technology. Goldman and Schafer (2012) state bioethical issues that arise in medical practice include antibiotics, dialysis, transplantation, intensive care units, issues of genetics, reproductive choices and termination of care. In clinical practice the most common issues revolve around informed consent, termination of life-sustaining treatments, euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, and conflicts of interest (Goldman, Schafer 2012).