Case Study: Please Don't Let Me Die

Case Study: Please Don't Let Me Die

Introduction

This assignment has taken Loren Richard's case as its prime focus. The example is based on the patient who was admitted in the nursing care facility and died due to nurse shortage, lack of focused assessment and unavailability of the experts.

Discussion

Ethical Problem in the Case

Ethics forms the fundamental framework for the professional practice of the nursing professionals. In the given situation, the nursing shortage is evident. However, unprofessional an unethical behavior is recognized by the nursing professionals, when only there nurses are left on the floor to take care of 100 patients while the other nurses are busy at lunch. Commitment to the patient is the primary moral duty of the nursing professionals (Browne, 2013). The problem seen in this case is the lack of professional practice and ethical code of conduct are not being followed by the nurses, as well as the organization.

The Institutional and Professional Constraints to Action

The primary institutional constraint in this case is the understaffing of nursing professionals by the health care setting. When the understaffing is apparent, it can lead to a challenging situation for the moral values, and beliefs to be followed in practice. As the research indicates, the nursing shortage leads to overburdened nurses that exert a negative impact on the patient care outcomes (Lang, Hodge, et.al, 2004). In this case, the three nurses present on the floor were overburdened with care for 100 patients. The professional constraints that can be seen in this case are inadequate Patient-nurse communication due to lack of time (2003), which in the given situation, led to patient's death.

Reason behind the Culpability of the Nurses

Although the nursing home was understaffed, yet the culpability of nurses cannot be overlooked. The reason is that the patient was under nursing ...