Right to Decide Essay

This ethical scenario presents an 86 year old female with numerous health issues and chronic illnesses. Mrs. Boswell’s advancing Alzheimer’s disease makes it extremely difficult to initiate dialysis, leading her physician to conclude a poor quality of life. The ethical dilemma portrayed in this case is between nonmaleficence and autonomy. Health care workers should focus on promoting the patient’s overall wellbeing and weigh the benefits and risks of the course of action, while also considering what the family declares they want done. Since the patient is deemed unable to make decisions, the goal is to collaborate with family, assess patient quality of life, address prognosis, and establish realistic care goals.

Patients have the right to self-determination and individuals should have control over their own lives. With respect for human autonomy comes respect for patient rights. Apart of the nurses job is to promote, advocate and protect the rights, health, and safety of our patients. Patients have the right to determine their health needs, make informed decisions, and the right to information regarding their treatment and also the refusal of treatment. Nurses are obligated to know the rights of a patient and to make sure the patient understands their treatment plan. Supporting patient autonomy includes making decisions in the best interest of the patient, considering their values and recognizing differences between cultures. In the treatment

A fundamental right for all competent patients is autonomy, or the right of self-determination. Patients are free to make their own judgments of any situation based on their own criteria. Charlie’s mom is definitely playing an important role, she is not letting Charlie make his own judgments. She instead of building his confidence is making him feel terrified with all the words she just said.

In addition to technical support provided to patients, nurses must address the psychosocial challenges and ethical conflicts associated with caring for critically ill patients and their families. More often Nurses are left with dilemmas when it comes to decision making and trying to up holds the ethics of autonomy, who to listen to, the client or the family? Ethically the patient has the right to choose what’s best for self, but is powerlessness when one is brought to hospital in a critical condition.

This case raises conflict between two principles one for respecting autonomy and beneficence. Due to Mildred being in a semicomatosed and paralyzed state, she does not have the ability to think autonomously. So, the following authority to help with decisions to be made during this time would be her three children. Her three children want to stop the tube feeding, but the physician objects that it’s unethical to “starve” a patient so that she will die sooner. The physician is not acting autonomously due to the fact of not listening to the patients children who know their mother and what she would want, but he is also not acting with beneficence because he's not helping to promote the well- being of Mildred who is now in this state not able to make her own decisions in addition to having a feeding tube which is the only thing keeping her alive.

Autonomy includes three primary conditions: (1) liberty (independence from controlling influences), (2) agency (capacity for intentional action), and (3) understanding (through informed consent) (Beauchamp & Childress, 2009, p. 100). According to Beauchamp & Childress (2009) to respect autonomous agents, one must acknowledge their right to hold views, to make choices, and to take actions based on their personal values and beliefs (p. 103). Respect for autonomy implies thaturges caregivers to respect theassist a patient in achieving? Heed? the autonomous choices of their patients. From there, patients can act intentionally and with full understanding when evaluating medical treatment modalities. Autonomy also includes a set of rules, one of which requires that providers honor patient decision-making rights by providing the truth, also known as veracity (Beauchamp & Childress, 2009, p. 103). In this case, several facets of the principle of respecting autonomy, specifically veracity, informed

Susie Marks caught a ride to Elsewhere City Park from Orson, who then dropped her off and left. She met her friend Jerry and his girlfriend Kate. Orson was to return for Susie at 11:00 p.m., which is the park’s curfew. Around 11:00 p.m. Officer Ruthless of the Elsewhere Police Department, approached the three minors and informed them the park was closing and instructed to leave the park immediately. Unfortunately, Orson had not yet arrived for Susie Marks.

Ellentuck, A. B. (2009). USING A LIMITED LIABILITY PARTNERSHIP AS THE ENTITY OF CHOICE. Tax Adviser, 40(2), 124-125.

As stated in Joseph A. Carrese’s article “Refusal of Care: Patient’s Well-Being and Physicians’ Ethical Obligations,” introduces the fundamental principles and responsibilities that physicians have in order to preserve the welfare of their patients in any circumstances. On the other hand, Debbie Dempsey, author of “Refusing Treatment: Practical, Legal, and Ethical Issues,” strongly supports the patient’s right to make their own medical choices, whether it be to accept or decline any help. W.D Ross solidifies the dependent yet incompetent patient to not refuse care and treatment because the physician has a duty of fidelity, beneficence and a duty to

The patient-provider relationship is at the core of medical ethics and along with it are three major models that determine the medical decision making of each provider. The three models are the paternalistic model, the autonomy model and the deliberative model. The paternalistic model is defined as a patient-provider relationship model that involves the provider's professional knowledge to decide what is best for the patient. The paternalistic model denies the patients right to autonomy and the provider acts as the patient's guardian. The autonomy model is defined as a patient-provider relationship model that gives the patient their full autonomy in deciding what treatment to choose.

Autonomy is more than a bioethical principle that promotes an individual’s ability to choose their own life path. It is a concept that varies by kind and by degrees. While Western medicine holds patient autonomy as a right, every right has its limitations. One such constraint on an individual’s autonomy, is the individual deciding whether or not to take a medication for their mental illness. This was the case for one of Dr. Brendel’s patients, “Lisa.” In this essay, I suggest that even though Lisa is depressed, Lisa made an autonomous decision to take her medication; and if she refused to take her medication, I would not obtain a court order.

The Danish Council of Ethics views the prioritization of autonomy as extreme and says that it is impossible to diminish the extent at which people are influenced by others (Alzheimer Europe, 2009). Similarly, the Finnish National Advisory Board on Health Care Ethics has stated that medicine is too complex to determine one single aspect of it as the most important (Alzheimer Europe, 2009). They also state that there are other principles that are of equal importance, including self-determination, the principles of the common good, community and equity (Alzheimer Europe, 2009). The value in these principles is quite apparent, and should certainly be considered. It is undeniable that a support system is helpful, if not necessary, to a person recovering from or living with a serious illness. This is consistent with a statement made earlier in this paper, the idea that it can be of great value for family/other loved ones and caretakers to be well-informed and knowledgeable about their loved one’s medical conditions if the patient so choses. It can be helpful to many people to be able to draw on opinions and past experiences of others when making important decisions on treatment methods and other important issues. However, it is hard to justify that this means it is acceptable to interfere in someone’s treatment. The ramifications of this could be

My job is to hire a sales manager who will sell the latest fiber optics to leading wireless manufacturers of five key companies. Some of the job requirements are that the sales representative must be articulate, sophisticated, and knowledgeable about fiber optics. The job also requires travel Monday through Friday in order for the sales representative to work with those in the prospective company. The job also requires spending leisure time after 5:00 P.M. with prospective clients. I have four prospective employees to choose from. Jake is a Certified Public Accountant who made a career switch to sales. He is single and wants to devote time to his

Nursing is an all encompassing profession in which practitioners are not only proficient in technical medical functionality, they also have the obligation to remain compassionate and respectful of patients and as such are expected to adhere to pre established codes of ethics. Of these ethics, autonomy is of extreme importance as it offers patients a sense of personal authority during a time where they may feel as if their lives, or at the very least their health, is no longer under their control. Autonomy in the context of nursing allocates the patient and often their family with the final word on the course of treatment. The concept of patient autonomy is a highly variable subject in all fields of health care. It is a universal concept that varies widely in its meaning and interpretation. Autonomy in its simplest form can be defined as a state of independence or self governing (Atkins, 2006). Patient autonomy can also be defined as the ability to make once own decisions, based on one’s sound judgment. It is defined by the American Nurses Association (ANA, 2011) as the "agreement to respect another 's right to self determine a course of action; support of independent decision making." This seemingly straight forward ethical concept is rife with difficulties when one considers potential disagreements that may arise even when informed consent is provided, particularly among children or vulnerable people. Relevant research and

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.