In this case, Katie’s right to autonomy conflicts with the moral principles of Dr. Katz. Similarly, autonomous decisions can be affected by the mental capacity, mental status, and maturity of the decision maker. Dr. Katz approached the hospital ethics committee and asked them to get involved to help be a resource for the patient, family, and staff. In summation, the ethics committee promoted the baby’s rights and was there to assist Katie in making an ethical informed…
Respect in this instance is referenced to the wife’s ability to act in a self-determined manner to be able to deactivate the husbands’ pacemaker and to end his suffering. In contrast, beneficence was referenced as a relieving of suffering, a deed of mercy and kindness to deactivate the pacemaker to Jeffrey’s best interest. However here we face an ethical dilemma of doctors refusing to respect the power of attorney’s autonomy due to their own medical moral code. Or, not viewing the patient as sick enough to be beneficent and end a patients…
Terrance Ackerman, in his article Why Doctors Should Intervene, presents some of the complicated affective influences that enter into the doctor – patient relationship when a patient is facing a life threatening situation. Patient autonomy has been the watchword of the medical community. Serving as the Magna Charta by which doctors have operated in their associations with terminal patients, honoring patient autonomy has been the guidelines by which doctors set limits on their involvement in patients lives. However, Ackerman makes a significant argument regarding conditions under which patient autonomy and a policy of non-interference are not sufficiently broad enough to address the real needs of the patient. The effects of the illness,…
3. What does the ADHA Code say about this type of situation? As a dental hygienist, the ADHA Codes of Ethics are being applied more often in the dental practice. Among the seven core values of ADHA Code, the value of individual autonomy involved into this situation because Ms. Meyer felt that she would be using her professional position to possibly unduly influence the patient’s autonomy in decision making for treatment.…
In the debate between Dax Cowart and Robert Burt, each of these men agree that competent patients have this privilege; however, they do not agree on when the patient has the right to use this privilege. Cowart’s argument favors healthcare professionals allowing patients to use their free will at any given moment regardless of the positive or negative outcomes of his or her decision. I agree with Cowart’s argument pertaining to the rights of patients. Cowart discusses how patient autonomy…
“Death and Dignity: A Case of Individualized Decision Making” by Dr. Timothy Quill is an account about the death of one of his patients, a woman named Diane. Diane had struggled with depression and alcoholism, and earlier in life, cancer: now in a better position in life, she was struck with the news that she had acute myelomonocytic leukemia. Upon hearing that her chances of survival, with long-term treatment would only be 25 percent, she chose to forgo chemotherapy and to live whatever time she had left outside of the hospital. Diane was convinced that she would die during treatment and would suffer immensely in the process. She was also a strong believer in the importance of maintaining her dignity.…
When it comes to the healthcare system, nursing is expected to deliver care based on scientific evidence, including a holistic approach. Therefore, nurses must accomplish a broad range of activities that encourage the promotion of not only safety but also comfort of the patients regardless of their different cultures and beliefs. For example, the interaction and integration among physicians, technicians, and nurses, including the patient have resulted in patient-centered collaborative care. This outcome seems to reinforce and widespread the role of nursing advocators built on a strong foundation of primary care along with an additional development of skills, sense of ethics, cultural and spiritual sensitivity, helping them to identify the…
However it is a compassionate response to unbearable suffering that results from terminal illness. The four basic principles to bioethicists are Autonomy, Justice, Beneficence, and Non-maleficence. Autonomy requires that the patient have autonomy of thought, intention, and action when making decisions regarding health care procedures. Therefore, the patient must be of sound mind and be able to make a fully informed decision without coercion or coaxing. Justice is the tricky part, a physician has the obligation to obey established legislation.…
The nursing code of ethics have been established by nurses to provide guidance for ethical relationships, responsibilities, behaviours and decision-making (Canadian Nurses Association, 2008). Within the code, there are seven primary values that outline the responsibilities central to nursing practice (Canadian Nurses Association, 2008). In regards to the described case, four values have been compromised: promoting health and well-being, promoting and respecting informed decision-making, preserving dignity, and promoting justice. Promoting health and well-being. This Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) value refers to advocating for your patient to ensure that their health is the priority concern (Canadian Nurses Association, 2008).…
The main ethical issues present are two principles. One is the patient’s autonomy, and the other is the doctor’s duty to relieve suffering. The patient’s autonomy is defined as the right of the patients to choose their medical path. Advocates for physician assisted suicide argue that under the liberty provision in the United States Constitution’s due process clause, a terminally ill patient should have the right to choose death (Howard Ball). Those opposed to physician assisted suicide argue that there are limits to autonomy.…
Ethical principles are not laws, but guiding principles about what is good and what is bad, that should direct doctors and other health care professionals in their work and decision making. Issues arising over end-of-life care involving decisions that affect the nature and timing of an individual's death raise difficult ethical conflicts for all concerned and can be a source of discord between health professionals within a team, health professionals and family members, or between different family members. Ethical dilemmas arise when there is a perceived conflicting duty to the patient, such as a conflict between a duty to preserve life and a duty to act in a patient's best interests, or when an ethical principle such as respect for autonomy conflicts with a duty not to…
Since Beauchamp and Childress wrote The Principles of Biomedical Ethics in 1977, patient autonomy, justice, non-maleficence and beneficence have been accepted as the four major medical principles (Murgic, 2015). In my opinion, autonomy is the hardest principle to implement especially in end-of-life care. I am reflecting on the Charlie Gard case where a healthy baby boy was born and it was soon discovered he had a rare genetic mutation that affected his brain, his musculature and most other major organs. The health care team reviewed the potential outcomes for this baby and decided that the best option was to allow him to “die with dignity”, remove life support and not pursue any untested experimental treatment. This could have been the end…
3. Teleologically, the moral end is what is most important to determine. In this specific case, the moral end was ultimately the death of Debbie, to grant her the peace and rest from the illness. In this specific case, I would say that the moral end was ethical and that by granting Debbie the respectable death and the end of suffering.…
Nurses play a central role in advocating for their patients. In the case of Freda, the moral conflict between the nurse and physician revolves around the implementation of a feeding tube, in which the nurses feel does not respect Freda’s wishes. In utilitarianism, the beneficence principle means the value of the good (Collier & Haliburton, 2015, p. 440). In Freda’s case she defines good as dying peacefully. In Kantianism, the principle of autonomy states that the competent individual has the right to be self-determining (Collier & Haliburton, 2015, p. 440).…
This principle acknowledges that the patient has a perspective of her interest based on her values and beliefs and has the right to choose or refuse treatment. In this case, it is important to take Jenny’s wish and opinions on the issue of abortion because she has the rights whether to continue or refuse taking the risk. APA’s Ethic code 1.02: Conflicts between Ethics and Law, Regulations or Other Governing Legal Authority. This code requires psychologist to clarify if the actions are against legal law and ensure ethical standards to client without sacrificing client’s autonomy, rights and dignity (American Psychological Association, 2010).…