Marlise Munoz
Background
On November 26, 2013, Mrs. Marlise Munoz was found by her husband, Erick Munoz unconscious on the family’s kitchen floor. Marlise Munoz was 14 weeks pregnant at the time she was pronounced brain dead by the doctors at John Peter Smith hospital in Texas. Both Mrs. Munoz and her husband Erick Munoz were EMTs and talked about their wishes should they become ill in the future. Both expressed the desire not to be placed on life support. With no formal written advanced directive, Erick Munoz was the surrogate for his wife. Marlise’s family continued to side with the Erick during this most difficult time. The Texas state law states that “A pregnant woman may life support may not be withheld or taken off of life support”. There has been an ongoing debate as to whose autonomy should be respected.
Autonomy
Beauchamp and Childress (2012) defined autonomy as self-ruled, self governance or self determination. John Peter Smith hospital did not respect the advance wishes of Mrs. Munoz. Although Marlise did not have a formal advance directive Mr. Munoz, her surrogate, continued to advocate her wishes . Mrs. Munoz right to autonomy
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Munoz was considered medically brain dead. She did not have any noted brain or brain stem activity. This meant that Marlise’s rights were terminated. The rights, then, should remain with the fetus, as it was considered alive. The hospital acting as a surrogate as the patient was unable to let his or her needs be known. Although the fetus had “abnormalitieis” didn’t mean that the fetus’s life was not worth living. Whether this is considered murder is far reaching, in my opinion. We should continue to preserve the life of the baby, whether it is handicap or not. We cannot preserve the life of Marlise, because there is no life to preserve. Taking Marlise off the support means that her own body will be unable to maintain life. What happened to the sanctity of the baby’s life is this particular
Autonomy is a concept found in moral, political, and bioethical reasoning. Inside these connections, it is the limit of a sound individual to make an educated, unpressured decision. Patient autonomy can conflict with clinician autonomy and, in such a clash of values, it is not obvious which should prevail. (Lantos, Matlock & Wendler, 2011). In order to gain informed consent, a patient
First of all, despite the wishes of Marlise Munoz she continued to receive the help of machines and hospital staff at John Peter Smith Hospital even after being declared dead. Marlise was found on her kitchen floor after more than an hour without oxygen on November 26, 2013. Arriving at the hospital, the staff placed Marlise on life support in accordance with section 166.049 of the Texas Advance Directives Act. The directive states, “A person may not withdraw or withhold life-sustaining treatment under this subchapter from a pregnant patient.” Following her passing on Thanksgiving, “Munoz and his wife’s parents told the hospital that Marlise, herself a veteran paramedic, had made it clear to everyone she didn’t want to be ...
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Anna Garcia is a thirty eight year old Hispanic women. She weighed 165 pounds and was 64 inches tall. She was married to Alex Garcia, but went through a nasty divorce. Anna has no children and one dog. A phone call came in at 9:45 AM on the hot morning of August 14th. Anna’s neighbor, Doug Greene let the police know he saw her walking her dog around 6:30AM yesterday morning, but heard her dog barking for the last two hours. Both the police and the EMT arrived at 9:56AM, and had to break the front door down. Upon entering the house, they found Anna lying face down in the entry hallway, a small pool of blood was by her head. The house was a comfortable 73 degrees fahrenheit. Around her there was evidence. There was vomit, blood spatters, blood on the table, and a pool of blood. As well as, a syringe, white pills, a cup with an unknown fingerprint on it, a muddy shoe print, and a
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Autonomy is a principle that allows a patient or authorizing agent to make decisions regarding healthcare decisions without any outside influence (Burkhardt & Nathanial, 2014, p.440) As the nurse, it is important to understand
Autonomy is identified as another professional value and one that the nurse must possess. Autonomy is the right to self-determination. Nurse’s respect the patient’s right to make a decision regarding their healthcare. Practical application includes, educating patients and their families on their choices, honoring their right to make their own decision and stay in control of their health, developing care plans in collaboration with the patient (Taylor, C. Lillis, C. LeMone, P. Lynn, P,
The aim of the analysis is meant to clarify the meaning of the word autonomy thereby the introduction of a concept. Clarification is needed as the word autonomy does have several meanings and not all apply to medical terminology, some meanings span to philosophy, technology and general decision making. The medical meaning is significant in the care of patients for improved outcomes through choice and educated decision making on the part of the patient. Autonomy can be empowering as a concept or even as a single word.
Consequently, the Respect for Autonomy is in which it means the patient has the right to choose treatment. In Frankenstein the creature has no choice if he wants to be created. He is created by Victor as a science experiment to see if Victor can cheat death, and find any cures to illnesses. The creature has no say to be created,
...ociety, but people should not make decisions that can drastically and unjustly infringe on others human beings. A fetus is in fact a human being and its rights should be respected. It maybe the mother’s body, but as soon as she conceives it’s just not her body anymore. Although others believe a woman has the right to choose what she does with her body, the infant the woman carries is still human and has rights to be protected.