Legal, Ethical and Professional Issues Ethical Dilemma Within healthcare, practitioners often have to make difficult decisions regarding the care of their patients. This could be to do with giving or withdrawing treatment, or as simple as sharing risk information (Glover, 1997). Ultimately, the practitioner must be able to rationalise any decision they have made (Morrison, 2009). With this in mind, the following assignment will draw upon an ethical dilemma and explore how theoretical perspectives can be utilised within the decision making process. Therefore it will also be pertinent to draw upon the law, and how this influences actions within health care. To facilitate this discussion, I will identify a scenario from practice that …show more content…
One theory that does have a workable approach is that of Beauchamp and Childress’ (1989) ‘Four Principles’. I am going to use this to illustrate how an ethically sound decision could be made for Mary. The first principle; ‘respect for autonomy,’ indicates that patients should have the right to make informed decisions about their care. In Mary’s case, her autonomy has been ignored – she would like to be able to return home to live with her carers and would like unsupervised contact with them, but this has been denied. Having been assessed by the Consultant Psychiatrist, Mary has been deemed to have the capacity to make decisions about where she lives (Mental Capacity Act 2005), though this has not been acknowledged and she is going to be placed in supported accommodation. The second principle; ‘justice,’ relates to an action that is fair and equitable. In Mary’s case, it seems unjust that both she and her carers are seemingly being punished for a claim made during a time when she was unwell. This is particularly important in health care, as practitioners must always be able to justify the care they are giving. In this situation, I think the practitioners would struggle to do this, as the main motivator seems to be based on perceptions, rather than facts. The third principle; ‘beneficence,’ refers to actions that result in a benefit to the
Ethical dilemmas exist everywhere around us in everyday situations. Something as simple as picking up a piece of trash off the floor to whether you should use a previously written paper from a separate class for a current assignment in this class. It exists in reality and even on television shows. How, then, do people resolve these ethical dilemmas and how do they defend their decisions? Nurse Jackie is a television series impregnated with ethical dilemmas, especially in medical care. In this paper, I will discuss the ethical issues found in the “Tiny Bubbles” episode of Nurse Jackie. I will further discuss the ethical reasoning with support of ethical principles. In addition, I will discuss how patient’s autonomy and non-maleficence principle of bioethics plays a role in decision making. Overall, there was a difficult struggle on the ethical theory of and utilitarianism, with ethical relativism playing a huge factor.
The NMC (2015) are the providers of the Nursing Code of Conduct. The code contains the professional standards to which all nurses must uphold, allowing for accountability of patients that come into their care. As well as the code of conduct, all nursing professionals have a responsibility to develop their knowledge in relation to law within clinical practice, and furthermore, ethical frameworks that are linked to judgment and decision making when providing care (Savage & Moore, 2006). In light of this, the overall aim of this essay is to elaborate on issues surrounding law and ethics in nursing. To do so, a case study has been chosen from a previous clinical experience. The focus of the case study will be on the decision of withdrawal from life sustaining treatment. Emphasis will be largely on the law and ethics concerning the issue of withdrawal from treatment. Moreover, the ethics and law involved in the palliative/advanced end of life care planning and decision making. In order to protect the identity and uphold the confidentiality of the case study, a pseudonym will be used throughout. Hendrick (2005) portrays confidentiality as being ‘one of the most important and well established moral obligations of health-care ethics’.
Moreover, an emphasis is imposed on the rights of a single patient to commit an act or decision even though it is in contrast with the views of the others. In regards to the ethical dilemma, a nurse could not justify the morality of the two possible choices based on their results and consequences. The Deontological approach would encourage the health care staff as well as the patient to ask themselves the most righteous choice for their situation. With this in mind, a combination of ethical theories can also be employed to give light to the dilemma. In view of this, another ethical approach could be applied to solve the issue, and this is the Right-based approach. This theory also aim to promote the rights of every person, and that, they are indispensable just to make ends meet. However, not all ethical theories can be incorporated in every dilemma in a health care setting because their foundations would contradict one another. In order to provide an effective and efficient solution, nurses should be knowledgeable of the principles enveloping each of the ethical theories and should be wise to apply them in appropriate issues and
Today many nurses, doctors, and other health care professionals encounter ethical dilemmas on a daily basis. An ethical dilemma can be defined as when there is more than one reasonable solution to a specific scenario. No one solution is more right than the other. In fact, they may both feel wrong, but a decision must be made (Butts & Rich, 2016). In the healthcare setting, nurses should be prepared to think critically and make ethical decisions. There are many factors that contribute to the process of ethical decision making such as ethical perspectives, principles, theories, and guidelines. Ethical decision making is to be rational and systematic. The selected case to be discussed is the case of Jahi McMath,
Shadow charts were developed to gather data and information for additional departments and medical personnel that need access to part of a patient’s file or records. The original records should always remain in the patient’s primary chart allow copies may be available to ancillary departments that may need access to the information. The same level of confidentiality and security applies to the shadow charts. They must be in a secure location with access by authorized personnel only. Additional information that should be included in shadow charts is a formal recording process to document those who access the information. Furthermore, a consistent system of upgrading the
While working with vulnerable groups of individuals in health and social care settings there are times when care workers are faced with a conflict of interests. Very often ethical dilemmas will not have the right answer and will depend upon a number of considerations. When the care worker is faced with a dilemma and will be expected to make a decision. Before making a decision, the care worker must consider their risks to the individual and any other people, the policies of the organisation and if they have all the facts of the case.
Task 1Managing medical ethics is a fundamental part of a Manager’s role. It is the responsibility of the Manager to understand the guiding principles of medical ethics and apply them within the organisation
Part Two- Describe how to manage risks associated with conflicts or dilemmas between an individual’s rights and the duty of care.
This assignment will critically analyse and justify the decisions based around a fictitious patient using a clinical decision making framework highlighting its importance to nursing practice. The chosen model will demonstrate clinical decision making skills in the care planning process. The patient’s condition will be discussed in-depth explaining the pathophysiology, social, cultural and ethical issues where appropriate in the care planning and decision making process. Any vulnerability that the patient may experience will be discussed and dealt with in the care planning and decision making process. The supporting evidence based literature will be analysed and
This paper will breakdown the difference between clinical and institutional ethics. How this can cause conflict between healthcare and society. Thus, providing an example of how healthcare professionals can be conflicted when trying to provide the best quality care or a compassionate treatment outcome.
Decision making in the setting of healthcare is influenced by ethical, legal and professional frameworks that provide standards of conduct by appealing to ethical principles, moral rights and virtues (Tonti-Filippini, 2011). These principles give credibility to decision making in healthcare with International and National frameworks (Tonti-Filippini, 2011). Examples include the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Code of Professional Conduct, the Australian Charter of Heath and the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Murray, 2009).
Nurses are constantly challenged by changes which occur in their practice environment and are under the influence of internal or external factors. Due to the increased complexity of the health system, nowadays nurses are faced with ethical and legal decisions and often come across dilemmas regarding patient care. From this perspective a good question to be raised would be whether or not nurses have the necessary background, knowledge and skills to make appropriate legal and ethical decisions. Even though most nursing programs cover the ethical and moral issues in health care, it is questionable if new nurses have the depth of knowledge and understanding of these issues and apply them in their practice
Health care professionals are subject to a multitude of professional, legal, and ethical responsibilities which call for personal judgment to be utilized in such a manner as to protect clients as well as public wellness and interests. Overall considerations in handling such duties may be considered to be respect of a client’s autonomy, confidence, and recognition of obligations owed to all clients. While the aforementioned acts fall within the professional realm, there are also legal implications that guide care. Therefore, it can be said that ethical considerations occur in observation of legal responsibilities. Confidential information is perceived as private facts which are disclosed with the
There are times that self-determination has opposition with the values and beliefs of health care providers. The five step ethical decision making model is in place for patients that are unable to make their own health care decisions due to incompetency; paternalism is not the method used anymore. “In relation to health care, paternalism manifests itself in the making of decisions on behalf of patients without their full consent or knowledge. (Burkhardt & Nathaniel, 2008). Value systems, which includes a patients and family morals, play a factor in ethical decision making.
What are the 5 hottest topics today involving legal, regulatory and ethical issues impacting on operating a B2C ebusiness?