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Essay about The Ethical Issue

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The ethical issue at hand, is how the patient of a nursing home, her family and the nursing home personnel will come to an agreement for the best healthcare treatment for the patient. Deana, a 76-year old woman stricken with Parkinson's disease, has suffered a lot of health set-backs such as, her inability of taking care of herself, her inability of walking so she is confined to a wheel chair, her losing weight and developing a small pressure sore on her coccyx, her developing aspiration pneumonia(inflammation of the lungs and airways to the bronchial tubes) twice in two months and her inability to swallow which is the cause of the dilemma at hand. The nursing home director requested permission from her family to place a feeding tube, so …show more content…

Placement maybe temporary for the treatment of acute conditions or life long in the case of chronic disabilities. There are different types of feeding tubes and they are classified by site of insertion and intended use. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/feeding_tube) Facing this problem as the client Deana, I would want to exercise the ethical principle 'autonomy" which is defined as self determination or freedom to choose and also I would like to exercise my rights as a patient. First and foremost, one has to be aware of the patient's rights which are as follows: the right to receive adequate healthcare, the right to have continuous healthcare, the right to refuse treatment, the right to receive information from physicians and to discuss the benefits, risks and costs of appropriate treatment alternatives, the right to make decisions regarding the health care that is being recommended by the physician, the right to be treated with courtesy, respect and dignity while receiving care and to receive a timely and responsive attention to care when needed, the right to make decisions about end of life care and the right to have informed consent. With the presenting issue at hand, as the client involved, I would not want to be pressured by the nursing home to make any harsh decision. I would want to have the freedom of choice(autonomy), in choosing the best option for me at this point in my life. For me to make the right choice, I would like to know what

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