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Healthcare professionals and ethics
Healthcare professionals and ethics
Healthcare professionals and ethics
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As reported in several newspapers thru out the Los Angeles and San Bernardino County, in May 2002, a 19-month old patient in San Bernardino County was awarded $43.5 million dollars in the case of Brown vs. Community Hospital of San Bernardino. According to the claim, Eric (the infant) was 4-months old at the time of the accident. The infant was admitted to the hospital with an upper respiratory infection. In the hospital the infant was attached to respiratory monitors and the parents were at the bedside around the clock. After a few days in the hospital the infant was doing much better so the parents left the hospital for a few hours. When the parents left the infant was laying on his back with the monitors in place. During the time they were gone, the monitors were somehow turned off, but none of the nursing staff would take responsibility for the action. The nurse taking care of the infant came into the room and found the infant on his abdomen, blue. The monitors were off and the patient breathing inadequately for approximately 40 minutes. After the infant was resuscitated he was flown out to another hospital where doctors told the parents that he had irreversible brain damage and the parents should just allow him to die.
According to the article the parents initially agreed to a Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) for the infant, but then changed their mind after they were educated as to what the DNR really meant. Originally the hospital and the insurance company agreed to pay for around the clock nursing care for the infant, however, when the parents turned down the hospitals $2.5 million dollar settlement the care ended. After over a year at trial, verdict in favor of the infant’s family was won for the amount of $43.5 million dollars...
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... the right thing, the attorney proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the healthcare system had failed the infant Eric Brown and his family and therefore the Code of Ethics for Nursing were not adhered to.
Works Cited
Cardona, M., (May 2002). The Sun, Retrieved from: http://www.fagellaw.com/documents/BruceFagelArticles-Acrobat/SanBernardinoSun-5-10-02-Brown.pdf
Malnic, E., (May 2002). Los Angeles Times, Retrieved from:
http://www.fagellaw.com/images/Article_Full_Size/LATimes-5-11-02-Brown.jpg
McNary S., (May 2002). The Press Enterprise, San Bernardino Edition, Retrieved from: ttp://www.fagellaw.com/documents/BruceFagelArticles-Acrobat/PressEnterprise-5-10-02-Brown.pdf
Code of Ethics for Nurses, (2001). The American Nurses Association, Inc. Retrieved from: http://nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/EthicsStandards/
CodeofEthicsforNurses/Code-of-Ethics.aspx
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In 1983, Nancy Beth Cruzan lapsed into an irreversible coma from an auto accident in Jasper County, Missouri. Cruzan was discovered lying face down in a ditch without detectable respiratory or cardiac function. Paramedics were able to restore her breathing and heartbeat at the accident site, and she was transported to a hospital in an unconscious state. An attending neurosurgeon diagnosed her as having sustained cerebral injuries combined with significant lack of oxygen. The estimated length of the period without oxygen was twelve to fourteen minutes. (Permanent brain damage generally results after six minutes without oxygen.) After the accident Nancy was not breathing on her own and was connected to a machine, five days later she was breathing on her own and the respirator was disconnected. She remained in a coma for approximately three weeks and then progressed to an unconscious state in which she was able to orally ingest some nutrition. She was moved out of ICU into a private room where the family tried on a daily basis to get a response. In order to ease feeding and further the recovery, surgeons implanted a gastrostomy feeding and hydration tube in Cruzan with the consent of her then husband. Nancy's parents Joe (Lester) and Joyce stayed at the hospital around the clock sleeping on couches and chairs. Her sister Chris visited as much as she could while her two daughters Miranda and Angie were in school. Nancy and Chris were be...
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With the guidance of their physician, Baby Does’ parents chose to withhold medical care and surgery due to the conclusion still leaving the child with severe retardation. “Officials at the hospital had the Indiana Juvenile Courts appoint a guardian to determine whether or not to perform the surgery. The court finally ruled in favor of the parents and upheld their right to informed medical decision” (Resnik, 2011). Because of the decision made to withhold surgery and medical care, Baby Doe died five days later of dehydration and pneumonia.
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How it relates to healthcare: The child’s injuries proved severe, and Bedner faced a long prison sentence if convicted,but he didn’t face murder charges.As his critically ill daughter,C.B. remained on life support the hospital sought to exclude Bender from decisions regarding from life support. The girl eventually did die, but the case generated considerable public debate and stimulated a controversy among bioethics scholars .
The Lewis Blackman Case: Ethics, Law, and Implications for the Future Medical errors in decision making that result in harm or death are tragic and costly to the families affected. There are also negative impacts to the medical providers and the associated institutions (Wu, 2000). Patient safety is a cornerstone of higher-quality health care and nurses serve as a communication link in all settings which is critical in surveillance and coordination to reduce adverse outcomes (Mitchell, 2008). The Lewis Blackman Case 1 of 1 point accrued
In the case of Cruzan by Cruzan V. Director, Missouri Department of Health “Right to Die” is the issue at hand. Nancy Cruzan twenty-five on January 11, 1983 was thrown from her car in a crash a few miles from her home. When police and paramedics arrived on the scene of the crash her brain had been deoxygenated for somewhere in between the time frame of twelve to fourteen minutes. Sadly
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The mother was told that the baby was dehydrated and needed to be supplemented with formula. But since she denied using the supplement, her pediatrician told her to take the baby to the ER room. When the mother did not check into the hospital, child protective services were called, she was then arrested, charged with neglect and removed from custody. After five months the case was dismissed and she regained custody of her son. In the case, the mother was mother was guilty of neglect because she was constructed to take the newborn to the ER immediately but failed to do so. According to the article instead of taking her child to the hospital, she went to the supermarket to buy soy-based formula and get a second opinion from another doctor. The mother is not wrong for wanting a second opinion and wanting to provide a another alternative food choice, but giving that the baby was dehydrated and was told to go to the ER, she should have taken care of her child’s emergency then took care of her personal agenda. Were officials wrong for charging her, no they were not. She could have avoided the charges if she went straight to the ER and discussed her plans with either her pediatrician or someone at the
child will never wake back up from a coma or if they know that their baby is in so much pain,
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