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Morality and ethical decisions
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While I can appreciate your reference to consequential ethics, there are many strengths and weakness to consequentialism. In this case study, it is understandable there are potential consequences to allowing and acute stroke patient return to home without an adequate support system. The patient may not be able to take care of herself properly and provide the basic necessities of life. According to Pozgar (2016), based on the view that the value of an action derives solely from the value of its consequences…the goal of a consequentialist is to achieve the great good for the greatest number (p. 38).
Is this practical in the particular situation? Can we be sure that of a bad outcome for this patient? As a nurse, we are able to identify
The ethical principle of nonmaleficence demands to first do no harm and in this case protect the patient from harm since she cannot protect. Nurses must be aware in situations such as this, that they are expected to advocate for patients in a right and reasonable way. The dilemma with nonmaleficence is that Mrs. Boswell has no chance of recovery because of her increasing debilitating mental incapability and the obvious harm that outweighs the intended benefits. If the decision were to continue treatment, suffering of the patient and family would be evident. Autonomy is the right to making own decisions and freedom to choose a plan of action. When making decisions regarding treatment of another person, it is important to respect the expressed wishes of the individual. John says that his mother would want to live as long as she could, but questions arise related to her quality of life and perception of prolonged suffering by prolonging the dying process. In BOOK states that quality of life changes throughout one’s life ...
Consequentialism is a term used by the philosophers to simplify what is right and what is wrong. Consequentialist ethical theory suggests that right and wrong are the consequences of our actions. It is only the consequences that determine whether our actions are right or wrong. Standard consequentialism is a form of consequentialism that is discussed the most. It states that “the morally right action for an agent to perform is the one that has the best consequences or that results in the most good.” It means that an action is morally correct if it has little to no negative consequences, or the one that has the most positive results.
The four major ethical principles in health care are: Autonomy – to honor the patient’s right to make their own decision (the opposite is paternalism - the health care provider knows best for the patient), Beneficence – to help the patient advance his/her own good, Nonmaleficence – to do no harm (many bioethical controversies involves this principle), and Justice – to be fair and treat like cases alike. All 4 principles are considered to be in effect at all times. In theory, each is of equal weight or importance. Ethical responsibilities in a given situation depend in part on the nature of the decision and in part on the roles everyone involved play.
Anyone who is a patient in a hospital is likely to be affected by these practices.
Depending on the time of surgery, the nurse may admit and discharge the same patient within the timeframe of his or her shift. The nurse obtains a history and physical (H&P) along with the progress notes from the operating surgeon or another licensed personnel written within the last twenty-four hours. The nurse sets the patient up with a peripheral intravenous line before surgery. He or she will interview the patient regarding the last time they ate and/or drank, what medications they take, and when the last medication dose was taken. The nurse also assesses the patient to see if he or she understands the procedure they are there for and asks if they have any questions or concerns. Depending on the health of the patient and what surgical procedure they will be subjected to, either a focused or full health assessment is performed. The nurse also makes sure that all labs pertinent to the patient have been obtained. These labs include a negative pregnancy test (or proof of a negative test within the last seven days) for any patient that could possibly be pregnant, even if the patient is currently menstruating, a finger-stick blood sugar test for all diabetic patients, a blood test for potassium levels for patients with end stage renal disease, and a prothrombin time or international normalized ratio test for patients on Coumadin. The nurse also makes sure that
For example, heavy drinking is considered morally wrong, however smoking is not. A smoker, who refuses to stop smoking is still able to receive medical care. Furthermore, if an individual breaks their leg due to their own personal conduct, doctors will still treat them. However, they are prone to breaking their leg again in the future. Everyones life is equally important. Therefore, it is unethical to prioritize one’s life over another and give one a greater treatment.
Ethical issues are “moral challenges” facing the health care profession (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2012, p. 127). Ethical issues is a major concern in the healthcare field because healthcare providers observe ethical issues every day and have to make ethical decisions. Advance directives are written documents that addressed an individual’s medical care preferences. These documents usually take effect when patients no longer can make informed health care decisions for themselves. While these documents are helpful to loved ones and health care providers, there are a number of ethical considerations that can make the development and execution of advance directives difficult (Llama, 2014). This author is a geriatric nurse that recently observed an advance directive ethical issue in the clinical setting. The purpose of this paper is to outline the steps of ethical decision-making within the seven steps for the framework. This paper will also identify the facts of the case from the perspective of each person impacted by the situation and identify which ethical principles were involved in the situation.
Dialysis is a pretty expensive procedure and is required to be done regularly. The patients have to follow a strict schedule. Some patients that have to undergo regular dialysis are already very old and most of their other body parts are also not properly working. For example consider a situation in which a patient is in comma and is not responding , and patient is going through regular dialysis cycles, questions may arise that should the patient be given the treatment of dialysis. Not only it is putting burden on the resources and equipment of the hospital but it is also a financial burden on the person and the family of the patient. The dialysis machine could be used for another patient who is young has a lot of responsibilities like supporting the family needs etc, also the money that is spent on the procedure of dialysis for the comma patient that might have been used for someone’s help in the family. This is where we see the ethical dilemma. These are very di...
In the scenario the decision made by the RN and the paramedics have breached the respect of autonomy of Elsie and failed to respect the decision made by Elsie. Megan-Janes 20.. implifies that people have the right and are to free to choose and act on their choices provided that their decision and act doesn’t impinge on moral interest of other people. Likewise Elsie’s choice to not to get advance treatment was of no harm to any other people rather than herself. In health settings Principle of Autonomy protests the patients right to be respected as dignified human being capable of making decision what is right for them even if everyone thinks that it is not right( ).In short health professionals must allow patient to participate in the decision making when it comes to their care and treatment. Furthermore (Harris 2011) have explained that it is very vital to respect patient’s autonomus decision to refuse intervention which is based on the principle of autonomy. Furthermore, in the scenario where the pressure of patient’s autonomy is in line, the argument depends on other moral principles( ).In this says Principle of non-maleficence gives justification. The Principle of non-maleficence says above all do no harm which means not to injure others or harm them ( ). Likewise , the RN and the Paramedics in the scenario had no intention of doing any harm to Elsie rather than saving her life. ( ) suggested that in nursing context the principle of non-maleficence would provide justification for performing any act which unfairly injures or makes a person to suffer which was avoidable. This will explain why the health professionals performed those acts despite the protest of Elsie which resulted in death of Elsie. Principle of Beneficence is another moral principle which defends against the principle of
Consequentialism is an ethical perspective that primarily focuses upon the consequences resulting from an action and aims to eliminate the negative consequences. Within this framework there are three sub-categories: Egoism, Altruism and Utilitarianism.
The theory of deontology concentrates on the appropriateness of the act versus the results of the act (Powers, 2005, pp. 496-499). Because of this, the correct action may or may not be enjoyable for the agent. Also, others may or may not approve of it and it may create pleasure, riches, or pain. Consequentialist believes that the end justifies the means, yet the deontology says that doing something right is not always good if it is going against what is deemed as moral. Let’s relate this to a hospital situation: three critically ill patients are in ICU and they all need organs to survive. A healthy young man c...
Various factors are associated with the development of ethical dilemmas, including advances in medical technology, increased life expectancy, the high cost of healthcare in an environment of limited resources, lack of time to provide care and conflicting values and cultures among patients, nurses and other healthcare professionals. All of which, including the growth of the nursing profession, have brought an increase in the nurses’ participation in human rights and life and death decision-making situations (Kim et al.,
Several ethical principles that are incorporated in the nursing care of patients on a daily basis are nonmalificence, autonomy, beneficence, justice, fidelity and paternalism. Nurses should strive to comply to as many of the principles as possible. In this case there are principles which support and conflict with the wishes of the patient. The first principle that supports the wish of the patient is autonomy. Autonomy means that competent patients have the right to make decisions for themselves and the delivery of the healthcare that they receive. Another factor that would support the patient’s wish to not be resuscitated is nonmalificence. Non maleficence means that nurses should not cause harm or injury to their patients. In this case the likelihood of injury after resuscitation was greater than if the patient were allowed to expire. A principle that could have negatively affected the outcome of the provision of ethical care was paternalism. Paternalism is when a healthcare provider feels that they know what is best for a patient, regardless of the patient’s desire for their own care. I demonstrated the principle of paternalism because I thought that I knew what was best for the patient without first consulting with the patient or family. This situation might have had some very negative consequences had the patient not have been competent. Practicing a paternalistic mindset might have caused a practitioner in the same instance to force their ideas about not resuscitating the loved one onto the family. This could have caused a sense of remorse and loss of control of care amongst the
Consequentialism is an extremely influential ethical system that most people don’t know they are using. Consequentialism can be very difficult to understand if explained in complex fashion, but it's actually very simple. This ethical system mainly consists of people thinking about the consequences before performing an action; furthermore one example of this could be thinking what the consequences could be if you didn't study for a test. The possibility of getting a bad grade would force many people to study. This idea of consequentialism has been around the planet for many years. Consequentialism is very similar to utilitarianism and is believed to be just recently called two different philosophies. The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy
Consequentialism is an ethical theory that evaluates the consequences of a person’s action to determine if their actions are right or wrong (Slote 34). According to the theory, a morally right act is one that has more good outcomes than bad ones. In this ethical theory, the end justifies the means; hence, it argues that people should first determine the good and bad consequences of actions before they do them. After determining the total outcomes, it is important to investigate whether the total good consequences are more. If the good ones outweigh the bad ones, then that action is morally right, but if it is the reverse, then the action is morally wrong.