NURSING

Nursing

Nursing

Introduction

This essay examines a wide variety of certain ethical and legal issues that arises over the course of various demeaning forms of illness. Ethics in the field of health care requires a much more delicate balance among the wishes of the patients, along with the conventional practice of medicine, with the appreciation of the fact that each human circumstances are inimitable, which not only includes the options of treatment, but the possible outcomes should also be considered, along with the hopes, beliefs, and the patients values. The patients and their families must be informed clearly, so that an appropriate decision for the treatment could be considered, which would help in resting the goals for the health care at all stages of illness. Ethics involves the circumstances under which dilemmas might take place between the need of maintaining the confidentiality of the patient, along with the need of disclosure of the personal information of the patient (Atkins et.al, pp. 23-67, 2011). In this essay we will discuss about the nurses that it is essential for them to be more familiar with their professional code of conduct, and they should keep an up to date information regarding certain changes which are taking places in the law to create a clear understanding, when the might be needed to override the duty of maintaining the confidentiality of the patient (Kerridge et.al, pp.190-234, 2009).

Discussion

Each and every palliative case represents a set of its own ethical dilemmas and dimensions. The following case is an illustration of diverse legal and ethical issues, which are embedded inside a common palliative care condition. Patty was admitted to an aged care service. She was 65yrs old and Australian born. Patty had recently had a stroke and also had significant end-stage cardiac disease. She was the mother of seven children, with four different fathers. She had been living in the community with a daughter prior to her stroke in a situation of both emotional and financial abuse. She had schooling until the age of 12yrs, and her relationships with partners had also been abusive. She was compliant, docile and accepting of all care without question.

In this case, many questions can be raised such as;

What are the ethical issues?

What are the issues that constitute an ethical problem?

Who decides about the treatment?

Are the ethical issues somewhat different from the legal questions?

How is the consent going to be defined?

Is it necessary to consider advanced directives?

Is withdrawal and withholding of a certain treatment identical? Are these two situations ever acceptable?

Can artificial hydration and nutrition be stopped?

Could sedation be considered as an option for ending the life of a patient?

What is meant by DNR?

What is the difference between sedation, as compared to the euthanasia?

However, this case suggests much more complex questions than suggesting answers to those questions. While, the following overview might be helpful in simplifying a better understanding of the multiple issues, which are embedded in a clinical case, but an individual should remember that ethics can never be equated with an easy recipe ...