What ethical principles were impacted? What was the ethical duty of care to Lewis? How was it breached? As Confucius states, “To know what is right and wrong, and to not do it is the worst cowardice.” Duty, obligation of one person to another, flows from eons of social culture, philosophy, and religion. Ethics are similar to the mortar that holds the bricks of law and statutes together – without the mortar, the wall would be more prone to collapse. Ethics are different from laws in that they are an unenforceable moral code or set of principles to guide behavior, though there may be regulatory bodies which can act if the ethics have been breached. In the case of Lewis Blackman, the primary ethical principle of non-maleficence was breeched, …show more content…
Not only do health care providers have an ethical implication to care for patients, they also have a legal obligation and responsibility to care for the patient. According to the Collins English dictionary, a duty of care is ‘the legal obligation to safeguard others from harm while they are in your care, using your services or exposed to your activities’. The legal definition takes it further by making it a requirement that a person act towards others and the public with watchfulness, attention, caution and prudence which a reasonable person in the circumstances would use. If a person’s actions fail to meet the required standard, then the acts are considered negligent (Hill and Hill, 2002). If a professional fails to abide to the standard of practice for their practice in regards to their peers, they leave themselves open to criticisms or claims of breach of duty of care, and possibly negligence. Negligence is comprised of five elements: (1) duty, (2) breach, (3) cause in fact, (4) proximate cause, and (5) harm. Duty is defined as the implied duty to care/provide service, breach is the lack thereof, cause in fact must be proven by plaintiff, proximate cause means that only the harm caused directly causative to the breach itself and not additional causation, and harm is the specific injury resultant from the breach. …show more content…
The nurse, a traveling nurse, was working on a unit and received orders for infusion of normal saline in a 7 month old. He saw a small bag of what appeared to be saline on the desk in the nurse’s station, with the manufacturer’s pre-printed labeling indicating that it was filled with normal saline. One key aspect, as described by the traveling nurse, was that he had encountered in other health systems that pediatric infusions were specified in small bags. Based upon these two perceptions, the nurse administered the infusion – despite the pharmacy applied label being on the other side of the bag. Needless to say, the child died shortly after receiving the infusion, despite resuscitation attempts. The infusion was actually prepared for his adult patient
At first, I believed that a patient should have the say so and get what they demand. I didn’t feel sympathetic for the health care provider one bit. I was able to look through the eyes of a physician and see the trials that they have to go through. It is not easy making the decisions that they have to make. There job is based on decisions, and most of it is the patient’s. “There will certainly be times when I will be faced with a request from a patient or patient’s representative that I will personally find morally difficult, but one that is still legally and ethically acceptable. must be very difficult to work in an area with little control over what you want to do.” (Bradley 1). Even though I do not fully understand a health care providers everyday role, I do know that they are faced with painful options. I personally feel that I can not work in this field for that exact reason. Health care providers play an extremely important role in our society, and others need to look upon
“One of those obligations is that it must exercise a proper degree of care for its patients, and, to the extent that it fails in that care, it should be liable in damages as any other commercial firm would be
Highlight the main ethical issues that this case brings to light and critically apply :
The clinical standards state, “All decisions made and actions taken on behalf of the patient adhere to ethical standards” (“Scope of Practice,” n.d.). I think that adhering to a professional code of ethics helps healthcare providers establish important decision making skills. Having a Code of Ethics is a vital guideline to have in the work place so we have a grasp on what is expected of a professional healthcare provider. It is crucial for the best quality of care being given to patients with equal care provided for all. The clinical standards also state, “All patients expect and deserve optimal care” (“Scope of Practice,” n.d.). Quality of care is important so that patients are given safe, respectable care. The overall objective is to achieve a high degree of patient satisfaction. By providing patients with more information and instruction, minimalized wait times, affordable costs, properly trained staff, maintained equipment, and compassionate attitudes we can give them the quality care they deserve. I think it is important to provide an excellent quality of care so that your patients want to keep coming back to the
Providers must act in the best interest of the patient and their basic obligation is to do no harm and work for the public’s wellbeing. A physician shall always keep in mind the obligation of preserving human life. Providers must communicate full, accurate and unbiased information so patients can make informed decisions about their health care. As a result of their recommendations, providers are responsible for generating costs in health care but do not generate the need for those expenses. Every hospital has both an ethical as well as a legal responsibility to provide care, even if the care may be uncompensated.
As population ages, clinicians will care for an increasing number of elderly patients. Just as these patients may present unique and challenging medical dilemmas, so may they also present ethical ones. Ethical dilemmas are present in everyday practice. It provides a brief overview of the situations that may raise ethical concerns. Although, these are not the only ethical concerns that may arise during care of the elderly and are not unique to the population, they represent the most common scenarios that clinicians may encounter in their everyday course of practice. Ethics, according to (Mueller, Hook & Fleming, 2004), is the analysis and identification of the moral problems that arise in the care of patients. Ethical issues on geriatrics: a guide to clinicians (2004) reports that clinicians will care for an increasing number of elderly patients with challenging medical problems.
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
While examining the ethical impact of how health care professionals should discharge their duties to their profession, the community, and patients,
Christopher death could have been avoided if the Doctor had been able to identify the cause of his desaturation on time. Due to lack of nursing care and many human errors from both the medical team and nurses, it leads to his death as per the inquest. Patient safety was compromised. It was found that Dr. Wooller the anesthetist and Dr. Young the surgeon who operated on Mr. Hammett didn’t investigate on the significant oxygen desaturation event that occurred in PACU while he was transferred from Operation Theater. DR. young assumed it was due to obstructed airway. As Mr. Hammett had Guedels inserted. The inquest stated that the anesthetist was supposed to review the arterial blood gas and transferred Mr. Hammett to High dependency unit due to his desaturation event for more than 20min. The nurses looking after MR. Hammett in PACU was RN Turrell and RN Proud. RN Proud notified Dr. Woller about the desaturation event for which doctor paid the visit but didn’t physically examine Mr. Hammett and left with short conversation. If Dr. Woller had investigated the cause of desaturation event at that time probably they could have prevented the rest desaturation event but unfortunately, none of them were implemented, which lead to additional complication Following the event the deceased was administered bolus morphine for his pain, which was scored 4/10. The nurses working in PACU RN Proud notified the anesthetist about the oxygen stat
Each person has a basic human right to be given proper medical care. Likewise, it is a social and legal duty for any health care staff and professional to appropriately provide medical services that strictly adhere to the sound practice standards as established by the medical community.
A traveling nurse is taking care of four patients on med surg floor at the hospital during a Monday morning shift. She is a new nurse who just started working in this facility a few months ago. This one patient is having continuous IV medication from a piggy-bag medication and the nurse is supposed to change the bag regarding the physician’s order. When the nurse comes into the room, she finds out that the previous medication bag is still full and the medication has not been administered into the patient. After assessing the patient’s condition and double-checking the medication, she hangs the new piggy-bag on the IV pole. There is no incident report filled and no-one is informed about this incident. The nurse claims that the patient’s condition is stab...
...ort her actions, then Jack must do so as he is too responsible for making this situation known to the appropriate people. However, one must acknowledge how difficult this may be for Jack due to the long-standing relationship he has with Linda. It should also be apparent now that Linda’s actions are unjustifiable. She is not only acting unprofessionally and unethically by not delivering the medication but she is committing an illegal offence by falsifying records and stealing from the ward. To conclude, it is important to remember that the Department of Health and Children (2008) acknowledge that healthcare has originated in a world which is not flawless and that as humans, errors are possible. However, members of the healthcare system must try and prevent these errors from occurring where possible to ensure a high standard of care which is owed to the service users.
I have come to fully understand that in order to treat my patients in a way that is person centred, I have to treat each person as an individual and realise that every individual has different needs and different rights and preferences to me which may go against my morals and beliefs but I always have to maintain my professional boundaries and treat each individual with respect and dignity. If I was a nurse who witnessed a similar situation to Kat’s, where another healthcare professional was disregarding my patient or any patients views or requests I would go into the patient’s room and find out what the problem was. Then I would politely ask the healthcare professional to step outside of the room and I would gently remind them of the code of ethics ((Kozier, Erb's & Berman, 2010, p.97) and the Registered Nurses standards of practise (2016), and how every individual has the right to make their own independent decisions about their healthcare needs/goals based on their own values, morals and beliefs. I would further explain that the patients are our main priority and it is our responsibility as nurses’ to ensure that the patients are safe and are receiving the proper care. I would then explain to the patient what was happening and apologise to them about the situation, and I would rearrange and try to negotiate with the patient when the procedure could be performed. Then I would notify the Nurse Unit Manager on the ward to ensure that situations like this do not occur
Tarzian, A. J., & Force, A. C. C. U. T. (2013). Health care ethics consultation: An update on core competencies and emerging standards from the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities’ Core Competencies Update Task Force. The American Journal of Bioethics, 13(2),
Philando Castile was driving in his car with his girlfriend on the road in Minnesota when he was stopped by a police officer. It was meant to be a routine stop for a broken taillight, but things went horribly wrong. He was licensed to carry a firearm and told the police officer as much when he approached. However, according to the girlfriend’s statement, the police officer shot him as he was reaching for his driving license. He was shot four times and bled out from his injuries while the police watched. The incident added to the tensions that have been building up regarding how people of color are treated by police officers. Mr. Castile was shot in spite of not drawing a weapon and the officers on the scene did not try to keep him alive even as he was alive for a few more minutes; as the video shows. Activists saw the action as