Ethical and Legal Challenges for Case Study- myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theEthical and Legal Challenges for Case Study Scenario. Answer: The primary role of registered nurses is to provide help and support to terminally ill patients, along with their family members, to relieve the pain and suffering. While caring for patients who are terminally ill, several complications arise and these create conflicts in the hospital environment. Nurses face difficulties in taking decisions related to positive healthcare of their patients. In addition, a number of ethical dilemmas are faced by experienced and clinically expert nurses every day (Gastmans, 2013). This assignment aims to explore a case scenario of a terminally ill patient, suffering from lung cancer, who refuses to undergo further treatment. Legal and ethical issues- It is the fundamental duty of hospitals and healthcare professionals to all recognise their patients right to select the treatment choices. All patients are entitled with the rights of deciding whether they want a particular intervention to be administered upon them and can display refusal to such treatment depending on their individual needs. The general role of nurses involves looking after the individual patients and respecting their autonomy. This particular case scenario led to a conflict between beneficence and autonomy. The nurse Mary should have taken all possible measures to respect the decisions taken by Mr. Jerry regarding his treatment, regardless of the fact whether the treatment refusal would manifest in the form of adverse effects. Autonomy gives the patient the rights to decide whether he wants to discontinue with the treatment for lung cancer, although a refusal can affect his health and can even be fatal (Cole, Wellard Mummery, 2014). The major legal complexity associated is taking informed consent. The beneficence of doctors is usually related to doing good for their patients, while working under a moral obligation (Grady, 2015). Further, this scenario will also lead to development of clashes between autonomy power and non-maleficence. Non-maleficence involves creating the least possible harms to the patients in a healthcare setting. A failure to resolve such conflicts and clashes will create a sense of mistrust in the patient for the nurse. Any violation of the autonomy of decision making rights of the patient will affect the nurse-client relationship (Ivanov Oden, 2013). Proper steps should be enforced by the hospital administration to inform Mr. Jerrys daughter of his thoughts that he will become a burden on her if he continues the treatment, and she will face difficulties in managing her household (Preshaw et al., 2016). According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, all patients have the right to decide whether they want to continue with a particular treatment in a hospital. Thus, care should be taken to ensure that the patient rights are safeguarded and not violated (Who.int, 2017). Ethical decision making process- The values of the SNB code of ethics mention the practices that should be followed by nurses and midwives in a healthcare setting. All nurses must provide such care that prevents nurses from discriminating between patients on the basis of gender, ethnicity, religion, age, and social and economic status. Moreover, the nurse Mary should follow the standards of practice that emphasize on the duty to help patients in talking about their individual needs, through effective conversation The standard codes of practice directs the nurses to modify the healthcare delivery plans depending on specific client needs (Healthypeople.gov, 2017). In addition, the second value statement instructs the nurses to protect and safeguard the autonomy of their patients, which will eventually provide the latter with a discretionary power to decide for the continuation of a particular treatment plan. The nurses should also provide access to all available information to their patients, to help them understand the efficacy of the proposed intervention (Healthypeople.gov, 2017). In addition, efficient workplace collaboration within the organisation culture is essential to deliver optimal health outcomes to the patients (Slegers et al., 2013). A collaborative relationship must be built by Mary between her patient, his daughter and the other members involved in the care process. This will help in influencing Mr. Jerry to withdraw his opinion on treatment refusal (Engel Prentice, 2013). A detailed conversation with his daughter will help her to understand his concerns and she might be able to help him understand the health benefits he will gain on showing compliance to the treatment. She would also be able to let him know of the adverse outcomes that might arise, if his decisions are followed (Engel Prentice 2013). However, the patient cannot be forcibly kept in the hospital and will have to be released if he is not convinced to continue with the treatment. In addition, Mary should be responsible for taking his word and ensuring that he will be solely responsible for the occurrence of any adverse health consequences, on treatment refusal. This can be achieved by preparing an AOR (at own risk) form. Signatures of patient advocates and witnesses will help in establishing that the patient has been discharged on grounds of his autonomy powers and that the hospital administration did not use force to treat the patient (Ivanov Oden, 2013). To summarise, it can be stated that there are plethora of ethical and legal concerns related to nursing practices, which make it difficult for experienced nurses to provide optimal care to their patients. The professional nursing standards guide the nurses to deal with such conflicting situations. This case scenario will help to understand that it is imperative for nurses to act in a way that is consistent with the rules and regulations stated in their standard codes of practice. It is essential for all nurses to ensure that their patients have a clear understanding of the proposed treatment and its benefits before any decision is taken to discharge them. Nurses should also protect a patients autonomy while in practice. This case scenario will create a sense of awareness among nurses regarding their duties and responsibilities, which are required to be followed if a patient is found to refuse treatment. To conclude, it can be stated that caring for patients suffering from terminally ill disorders require a huge effort on the part of nurses and they should identify the health demands and underlying mental problems of the patients that make the latter show treatment refusal. References Cole, C., Wellard, S., Mummery, J. (2014). Problematising autonomy and advocacy in nursing.Nursing ethics,21(5), 576-582. Engel, J., Prentice, D. (2013). The ethics of interprofessional collaboration.Nursing ethics,20(4), 426-435. Gastmans, C. (2013). Dignity-enhancing nursing care: a foundational ethical framework.Nursing ethics,20(2), 142-149. Grady, C. (2015). Enduring and emerging challenges of informed consent.New England Journal of Medicine,372(9), 855-862. Healthypeople.gov. (2017).Search the Data | Healthy People 2020.Healthypeople.gov. Retrieved 11 November 2017, from https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/data-search/Search-the-Data#objid=4971; Ivanov, L. L., Oden, T. L. (2013). Public health nursing, ethics and human rights.Public Health Nursing,30(3), 231-238. Preshaw, D. H., Brazil, K., McLaughlin, D., Frolic, A. (2016). Ethical issues experienced by healthcare workers in nursing homes: Literature review.Nursing ethics,23(5), 490-506. Slegers, K., Wilkinson, A., Hendriks, N. (2013, April). Active collaboration in healthcare design: participatory design to develop a dementia care app. InCHI'13 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems(pp. 475-480). ACM. Who.int. (2017).The Health Manager's Website.World Health Organization. Retrieved 7 November 2017, from https://www.who.int/management/en/