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Ethical dilemmas scenarios
Factors affecting ethical decision making
Ethical dilemmas in the healthcare workplace
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Ethical awareness is the first step in the ethical decision making process. “If a decision maker is to engage in ethical judgement processes that will eventually lead to ethical action, she or he must first recognize the ethical nature of the situation at hand” (Trevino & Nelson, 2011). In the case, Joe encounters an ethical quandary. Joe is taking care of a patient whom he is not supposed to leave unattended, however, he hears a staff member screaming in the hallway for help. The staff member is being attacked by large individual and she fears for the life of her baby. At this particular time, Joe is the only person who is nearby and who can offer help, yet he is in the process of bathing his patient. If Joe leaves his patient in the bathtub …show more content…
“With ethical awareness, a person recognizes that a situation or issue is on that raises ethical concerns and must be thought about in ethical terms” (Trevino & Nelson, 2011). Additionally, people are more likely to be ethically aware if they believe their peers will consider it to be ethically problematic; if ethical language is used to present the situation to the decision maker; and if the decision is seen as having the potential to produce serious harm to others (Trevino & Nelson, 2011). In Joe’s case, he fears what his peers and manager will say and he could potentially cause harm to his patient if he is left unattended. Joe fears what his peers or manager might say because he signed a document stating he would not leave a 1:1 patient alone and if he did it would be considered neglect. Moreover, it would be a violation and he could be …show more content…
“Most adults are at the conventional level of cognitive more development (level II) which means they aren’t autonomous decision makers who follow strictly follow an internal moral compass” (Trevino & Nelson, 2011). In this case, there is a policy that can guide in solving the ethical issues, but then it would lead to more difficulties for Joe. The staff member could lose her baby and this would make him feel like he is responsible. Therefore, if I was in the position of Joe, the option that I would choose here is to temporarily leave the patient alone and assist the staff member being attacked. Even if this is going against the policies, Joe can later explain to his manager the reasons behind his choice. Per Trevino and Nelson, the large majority of employees will look for guidance and end up doing what’s right if supported by their peers or manager (Trevino & Nelson,
For anyone who has ever worked in healthcare, or simply for someone who has watched a popular hit television show such as Grey’s Anatomy, General Hospital, House or ER know that there can be times when a doctor or health care provider is placed in extremely difficult situations. Often times, those situations are something that we watch from the sidelines and hope for the best in the patient’s interest. However, what happens when you place yourself inside the doctors, nurses, or any other of the medical provider’s shoes? What if you were placed in charge of a patient who had an ethically challenging situation? What you would you do then? That is precisely what Lisa Belkin accomplishes in her book “First Do No Harm”. Belkin takes the reader on
For example, other staff may engage in crime using Nancy’s gun, or she may also engage in violence with other staff members. In my suggestion, Nancy, other than carrying a gun for her own boyfriend, she should rethink as was going to apply the same action on her own patients/clients. She should apply the same ethical and professional principle for her boyfriend as she applies to her patients such as respect for persons, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice. More importantly, Nancy’s boyfriend, Joe, was dying for the true love although his inappropriate communication between Nancy lead to the incorrect action by her (Buchbinder & Shanks, 2012,
Slosar, J. P. (2004). Ethical decisions in health care. Health Progress. pp. 38-43. Retrieved from http://www.chausa.org/publications/health-progress/article/january-february-2004/ethical-decisions-in-health-care
Healthcare ethics is defined as a system of moral principles that guide healthcare workers in making choices regarding medical care. At its core lies our attitudes regarding our personal rights and obligations we have to others. When an unprecedented situation comes into play, we rely on medical ethics to help determine an outcome that would be the best case scenario for all involved. In order to appropriately review this case study, we must first identify the key stakeholders, the ethical principles, policy implications at the federal, state, and local levels, financial implications, and a viable resolution for the situation.
Ethics are the moral beliefs that help direct a person’s behavior These values are molded by social norms, culture, and often times religious beliefs. With that, ethical decision making is the development of measuring the moral associations of a course of action(Squazzo,2011). Every decision has an ethical or moral component due to the fact that they each have effects on others. Organizations often instill ethics agendas to help ease better decision making of employees. According to Jack Gilbert there are five specialties for ethical culture that healthcare organizations can learn from, they are: mindfulness, voice, respect, tenacity, and legacy(Squazzo,2011). Gilbert states mindfulness as being mindful of unethical thing that could
An ethical dilemma occurs when moral obligations clash, and may pose a challenge when faced to define which course of action is right or wrong. In the current case, Ashley, an advanced doctoral student is faced with a challenging ethical dilemma at her current practicum site. The ethical dilemma became complex and multi-layered, prompting Ashley to seek peer consultation in efforts to make sound and professional decision making when faced to determine the course of action. Specifically, Ashley who is treating two teenage adolescents (patient A, patient B) from the same H.S. is made aware of private information concerning patient B, from patient A. Patient A is considered to be more “high-risk” due to the recent tragic death of her parents, suicide attempts, and chronic suicidal ideation with plan. Ashley fears that the information she holds may trigger patient A into depression and suicidal ideation. In addition, Ashley is conflicted that withholding the information from her patient may do equal damage, and sever their relat...
Therefore, even if the facts show that these employees where somehow providing professionally approved care, i.e. physically restraining her during an out of control incident, the patient’s perception that she was being physically and sexually assaulted remains to be the outcome. Therefore, according to the consequential theory of ethics, this behavior would not be considered ethical. Therefore, an alternative action, or one that is not perceived to be threatening and harmful, must be executed.
To begin with, there is Autonomy with Lora wanting to make the choice on not having the abuse she encountered be reported. Secondly, Beneficence is present with the nurse wanting to do good by doing what is best for the patient, preventing further abuse, and getting Lora out of the environment she is in. Morally, the nurse wants to keep Lora’s abuse private and confidential per Lora’s wishes, but legally the nurse is required by law to report the abuse no matter what age the child is. Nonmaleficence is present in that the nurse must consider the pain in suffering the patient and family will encounter when this is reported resulting in Lora being removed from everything that is familiar to her with the end result of getting Lora out of the abuse and into a healthy environment. The nurse has to be truthful to Lora and explain why the nurse will report the abuse and what the process will be which pertains to the principle of Veracity. The nurse must keep the information that was given about the abuse confidential by only telling the appropriate agency or those in a need to know basis that will deal with the abuse. This is one of the few times that the nurse will go against the patient’s wishes of privacy due to the vulnerability principle. This occurs when there is a need for protection for
On April 24th, 2014, one simple recording released by TMZ made Donald Sterling, owner of the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers, the most hated man in America. In this recording, Sterling ranted over the fact how he did not want V. Stiviano, his partner, to be affiliated with any African Americans. As a result of his racist statements, fans, athletes, and sports organizations/members, voiced their opinions on the matter, flourishing social media. Many star players such as LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and a majority the Clippers players acknowledged that something had to be done, and that the NBA is no place for racism. In the end, after team owners took a vote, NBA commissioner Adam Silver held a press conference enlightening the public
When I was working as a Customer Service Representative in the Bank, one of my responsibilities was to supervise the tellers. I was friends with two of the tellers working there at the time. We used to go out together outside of work and had great time. At some point I started noticing that they are being too friendly with each other and acting inappropriate for a professional environment. I decided to confront them and they confessed to me that they were dating. That is when I realized that I was faced with an ethical dilemma.
The ethical situation in question is a culmination of intolerance, ignorance, cultural insensitivity, and failure to follow hospital protocols and procedures. The location of the facility in which the ethical dilemma took place is a small, rural hospital in the Midwest of the United States of America. A new male patient has been admitted and he is currently a practicing Muslim. The facility does not have a large Muslim population and does not have any cultural protocols in place to accommodate the Muslim religion.
An ethical dilemma is defined as a mental state when the nurse has to make a choice between the options and choices that he or she has at her disposal. The choice is a crucial task as the opting of the step will subsequently determine the health status of the concerned patient, hence it requires a great deal of wisdom along with proper medical and health training before any such step is opted as it is a matter of life and death. Strong emphasis should therefore be on the acquisition of proper knowledge and skills so that nurses do posses the autonomy to interact with patients regarding ethical issues involved in health care affairs and address them efficiently. It is normally argued that nurses are not provided sufficient authority to consult and address their patients on a more communicative or interactive level as a result of which they are often trapped in predicaments where their treatments of action and their personal beliefs create a conflict with the health interests of the patient. (Timby, 2008)
An example of this moral component is when caring for a patient with a poor quality of life and the durable power of attorney (DPOA) kept the patient alive for the purpose of receiving disability funds from the government. This patient had multiple admissions between two nearby hospitals due to respiratory failure and sepsis. Remaining on a ventilator, bedridden with multiple infected pressure ulcers, and unable to speak due to a brain injury made this patient’s quality of life very poor. When not hospitalized, the patient remained in a nearby nursing home with no family to care for him. The DPOA had multiple meetings with the ethics committee at two different hospitals due to the nurses’ concerns. As a nurse caring for this patient, it became very difficult to communicate with the DPOA because any discussion in regards to quality of life created an intense reaction by the DPOA. The intervention of Advocating for the patient due to this unethical event displays the knowledge in the moral way of knowing because ethics are based on the justness, rightness and being responsible (Mantzorou & Mastrogiannis, 2011). Sadly, keeping this patient alive for the sole purpose of making money was unjust and
Morrison & Furlong (2014) discusses that caregivers with practical wisdom, which by necessity includes being of good character or virtuous, will be able to make appropriate decisions about the means to ends. This has significant implications for healthcare ethics. When faced with ethical challenges in medical care, such caregivers will have the practical wisdom to know how to weigh the various issues and concerns and form a conclusion. (p.13)
In the medical ethics case study given to me, Justin is new nurse at a hospital and has become great help to the other employees but he makes mistakes often. When it comes to medical ethics, it is important to do what you know is morally correct. We all want to be good Christians and make the right decisions but sometimes those decisions will affect others negatively. We may not always act how we ought to but those decisions do affect who we are.