...Her husband and children cannot come to an agreement on whether life support should end or if all resuscitative measures should be attempted. The following paper will discuss how the American Nurse’s Association Code of Nursing Ethics would influence a final decision, how personal and societal values can influence ethical decision making, the fundamental legal aspects of each case study, and the legal responsibilities of nurses in the work setting. Regardless of any situation that may arise, every nurse has a set standard in place that must be followed. These are nonnegotiable, ethical standards, obligations and duties that every individual swears to when entering the nursing profession. These standards are all found within the American Nurses Association’s code of Nursing Ethics and Conduct. Whether dealing with patients and families during end of life decision making or dealing with nursing negligence within the court of law, the first provision in the code of ethics is the most imperative to remember. Nurses are always obligated to their patient’s best interest, therefore making them an unrelenting patient advocate. Many provisions are pointed out within the Nursing Code of Ethics. In the situation of dealing with Marianne’s family and medical treatments, there are many important things to consider. “The nurse respects the worth, dignity, and rights of all human beings irrespective of the nature of the health problem. The worth of the person is not affected by disease...
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...honest communication, respect for personal and professional values, and sensitivity to differences are integral to optimal patient care. As the setting for the provision of health services, hospitals must provide a foundation for understanding and respecting the rights and responsibilities of patients, their families, physicians, and other caregivers. Hospitals must ensure a health care ethic that respects the role of patients in decision making about treatment choices and other aspects of their care. Hospitals must be sensitive to cultural, racial, linguistic, religious, age, gender, and other differences as well as the needs of persons with disabilities (A patient’s bill of rights, 1992). To participate effectively in decision making, patients must be encouraged to take responsibility for requesting additional information or clarification about their health status or treatment when they do not fully understand information and instructions (A patient’s bill of rights, 1992). Three ethical considerations are autonomy, duty of care and risk-benefit. Ethical questions surround the concept of medical...
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...definitions of euthanasia: "A gentle and easy death...[T]he means of bringing about a gentle and easy death... However, in today’s society term euthanasia includes both voluntary and involuntary termination of life. Euthanasia has many meanings. Except for involuntary euthanasia, all these terms are closely related because the victim requests the action. The only difference is who is actually committing the act, Voluntary euthanasia is a help to mentally competent person to die through the assistance of others and can be divided in two categories. Passive Euthanasia means causing the death of a person by withdrawing some form of support and letting nature take its course. For example: removing life support, stopping medical procedures, stopping food and water and allowing the person to dehydrate or starve to death, and not delivering CPR. Active Euthanasia involves causing the death of a person through a direct action, in response to a request from that person. For many people, euthanasia is a preferable option compare to loss of independence and unbearable suffering. Background Euthanasia has always been a highly controversial topic. In...
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...involuntary euthanasia, the killing of a patient without the patient's knowledge or consent. Some call this "life-terminating treatment." Euthanasia can be either active or passive. Passive euthanasia allows one to die by withholding or withdrawing life supporting means. This is a tricky area because ordinary and extraordinary means of supporting life come into the picture. Ordinary means such as nutrition and hydration are never to be withheld since they are one's basic right in order to survive. However, one is not obliged to use extraordinary or 'disproportionate' means to sustain life. Due to complexity, each situation needs to be looked at individually when discussing extraordinary means. However, as a rule, one can discontinue "medical procedures that are burdensome, dangerous, extraordinary, or disproportionate to the expected outcome." One cannot intend death by withdrawing or withholding treatment, but should, however, obey God and let one die a natural death. To withdraw a treatment as a condition worsens is letting one die and not a direct killing. In this case, it is the disease that is killing and not the one who withdraws the treatment. Active euthanasia or' mercy killing' pertains to the Dr. Kevorkian’s' of the day. This is the direct intentional killing of a patient with either their consent (voluntary), without their consent when impossible (non-voluntary), or without consent but not sought (involuntary). Advocates of this murder have covered their ears to...
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...* Quality of life - only the patient is really aware of what it is like to experience intractable (persistent, unstoppable) suffering; even with pain relievers. Those who have not experienced it cannot fully appreciate what effect it has on quality of life. Apart from physical pain, overcoming the emotional pain of losing independence is an additional factor that only the patient comprehends fully. * Dignity - every individual should be given the ability to die with dignity. Prolongation of dying - if the dying process is unpleasant, the patient should have the right to reduce this unpleasantness. In medicine, the prolongation of living may sometimes turn into the prolongation of dying. Put simply - why should be patient be forced to experience a slow death? Most physicians have received one or more requests to help a patient end his or her life prematurely. This module focuses on the skills that the physician can use to respond both compassionately and with confidence to a request, not on the merits of arguments for or against legalizing physician-assisted suicide (PAS) or euthanasia, but using solid clinical skills. To respond effectively, physicians must know the reasons why patients ask for assistance. Depression, psychosocial factors, and anticipated distress are common reasons, but current physical suffering can also be a factor. Physicians need to be able to assess the root causes of the specific request, make a commitment to the patient’s care, address each...
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...The Patient Self-Determination Act of 1990 required consumers to be provided with informed consent, information about their right to make advance health care decisions. This act is also called advance directives. The act requires that patients be given information about state laws that impact legal choices in making health care decisions. Health care facilities in every state are required by this act to notify patients 18 or older of their right to have an advance directive in their medical records. Advanced directives include living wills; do not resuscitate (DNR) orders, medical power of attorney, health care proxy, or organ or tissue donation. Every patient must be informed in written form by health care facilities of the laws in their state that are related to advance directives. Every patient has to sign the advance directive notification form stating that they have been informed of their right to have advance directives. This provides proof for the facility that they have informed the patient. This form has made laws concerning patients right’s stricter. Records management procedures have had to make some changes to the way they do things in order to respond to this legislation. They have had to make sure when a patient comes to the hospital that they find out if they have advanced directives. Before this act this was not a question they asked when you came to the hospital. Doctor’s and the health care team have to pay closer attention to what the patient wants and do as...
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...Ethics Study Review 1) Write a paper (1,250-1,500 words) that describes how to use the method of ethical decision making: a) What are the dimensions of the ethical dilemma? b) What are the issues? c) Apply the four core ethical principles and the process of ethical decision making. There are many complex ethical issues that can affect patients and families in the health care setting. One of which is end of life care. Decision making in terminal care is a demanding and stressful duty for all involved that can take place in any setting in which patients die in hospitals, nursing homes, hospices, and at home. For people reaching and the end of life, continuing to suffer may appear worse than death. The suffering can be so great that the option of ending one’s life through either euthanasia or physician assisted suicide may appear to be a reasonable and merciful choice. “Euthanasia is an act where a third party, usually implied to be a physician, terminates the life of a person; either passively or actively. 14 Euthanasia is also defined as “the mercy killing of the hopelessly ill, injured or incapacitated.” (Athar, 2006). Active euthanasia requires performing some action that terminates the life of a person. An example of an active euthanasia intervention would be a situation where a physician would inject a patient with a lethal dose of a drug.14 In cases of voluntary, active euthanasia, a competent patient who wishes to avoid suffering and a slow dying process asks a...
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...Terri Schiavo provides a valuable case study. The conflicts and misunderstandings surrounding her situation offer important lessons in medicine, law, and ethics. Despite media saturation and intense public interest, widespread confusion lingers regarding the diagnosis of persistent vegetative state, the judicial processes involved, and the appropriateness of the ethical framework used by those entrusted with Terri Schiavo's care (Fine, 2005) On March 31, 2005, Terri Schiavo (born December 3, 1963) died -- the final complication of a cardiac arrest on February 25, 1990. Her death was preceded by the withdrawal of artificially administered hydration and nutrition through a feeding tube. Prior to her death, Terri's saga was the focus of intense medical, ethical, and legal debates in the United States and elsewhere. These debates were characterized by confusion about the facts, ethical principles, and laws relevant to the case. Much of the confusion revolved around a number of ethical and legal questions including: Is it ethically and legally permissible to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatments from patients who do not want the treatments? Is withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatments the same as physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia? Is artificially administered hydration and nutrition a medical treatment or mandatory care akin to bathing? What were Terri's values, preferences, and goals regarding life-sustaining treatments? Several issues raised...
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...Press 0521804167 - Euthanasia, Ethics and Public Policy: An Argument Against Legalisation John Keown Frontmatter More information EUTHANASIA, ETHICS AND PUBLIC POLICY An Argument against Legalisation Whether the law should permit voluntary euthanasia or physicianassisted suicide is one of the most vital questions facing all modern societies. Internationally, the main obstacle to legalisation has proved to be the objection that, even if they were morally acceptable in certain hard cases, voluntary euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide could not be effectively controlled; society would slide down a slippery slope to the killing of patients who did not make a free and informed request, or for whom palliative care would have offered an alternative. How cogent is this objection? This book provides the general reader (who need have no expertise in philosophy, law or medicine) with a lucid introduction to this central question in the debate, not least by reviewing the Dutch euthanasia experience. It will interest readers in any country, whether for or against legalisation, who wish to ensure that their opinions are better informed. john keown is Senior Lecturer in the Law and Ethics of Medicine, Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge. His previous publications include Abortion, Doctors and the Law (1988) and Euthanasia Examined (1995). © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521804167 - Euthanasia, Ethics and Public Policy: An Argument...
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...When patients are admitted to the hospital or seen in a clinic the goal is that they are going there to get the best care that can be delivered. Yet it has been proven that this is not always the case and care provided is not always proven effective. "Increased awareness of national shortcomings in both quality and value in the nation's health care has fueled discussions on approaches to reform. As long as the gap persists between the prevailing patterns of care and best practices readily established for a given condition, health care cannot deliver the value we want and expect" Institute of Medicine (IOM), (2011) p. 1. Health professionals working together under the IOM formed a Best Practices Innovation Collaborative (BPIC) " catalyzes joint activities among the health professions for improvement and innovation in health and health care, focusing on fostering evidenced-based best practices, including team care and shared decision making" (IOM, 2011, p.1). IOM was and is very instrumental in ensuring that evidenced-based practice (EBP) and evidenced-based nursing (EBN) becomes a routine part of healthcare today. . McSherry, R., and Scott, K. maintain that " EBN has a very strong position in the clinical governance agenda. This is important because quality improvement emphasises the main components, being thedevelopment of an EBP culture through offering strategic direction for developing, applying and evaluating the skills in practice" (2008, p.1085). With...
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...Against Humanity: Euthanasia Tolga Arslan ESL 160-03: Combined Skills VI Professor Roxanne Leach April 24, 2013 Tolga Arslan 4/24/2013 ESL 160-3 Library Report Essay Professor Roxanne Leach Against Humanity: Euthanasia Euthanasia is a serious political, moral, and ethical issue in today’s society. Euthanasia is putting people in a painless death or when terminally ill people choose to end his or her life with a doctor’s help. The word euthanasia comes from Greek “eu”, goodly or well and “thanatos” death, so it is good death. This short definition is a cause of all those debates all over the world. Doctors, politicians, religious leaders, lawyers, and general public argue for euthanasia, whether it should be legalized or not. Euthanasia is a serious topic because it goes against the standards of traditional medicine. First, doctors have to take the Hippocratic Oath to become a real doctor. The Hippocratic Oath says do whatever you can to save people’s life. Euthanasia says just kill them if they want to die. Which doctor can kill their client if they have taken the Hippocratic Oath or if they are real doctors? Second, euthanasia is not always applied to terminally ill patients either. People who have been in serious accidents, or who have debilitating diseases are often consideration for the application of euthanasia. The problem is, these patients are neither in a coma nor senseless. According to http://www.euthanasia.cc, “A pair of identical twins has died after...
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...Joyce Chen Aaron Lay ENC 1101 12 August 2013 Killing Them Softly Death is an ineluctable phenomenon, but it can be quick, possibly painless, or one can bear insufferable pain. It is stated in the Hippocratic Oath, “I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan; and similarly I will not give a pessary to cause an abortion” (United States). A physician should uphold his or her duty to save a person’s life, even though that person may be in immense amount of pain and rather die. This is where the debate over legalizing euthanasia comes in. Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide are very similar, however, dissimilar at the same time. In all technicality, physician-assisted suicide is the active form of euthanasia, and it gained popularity after the largely controversial case of Dr. Jack Kevorkian. Comprehending the basic knowledge of euthanasia and its history will help one to understand why euthanasia is not such an unacceptable practice, but also why legalizing euthanasia can benefit many people. Euthanasia is derived from “the Greek word for ‘good death’” (Terri). This “may imply that the Greeks and Romans who coined the term agreed on the basic issues [of euthanasia although,] history shows on us that this is not the case” (McDougall 3). Until Christianity came about, if the person is suffering from immense pain and/or the quality of life is futile, a physician’s duty to kill was equated to the duty to heal. Unfortunately, euthanasia...
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...at the arguments that will help us understand the reasoning for / against mercy killing. Pro Euthanasia Arguments: Legalizing euthanasia would help alleviate suffering of terminally ill patients. It would be inhuman and unfair to make them endure the unbearable pain. In case of individuals suffering from incurable diseases or in conditions where effective treatment wouldn’t affect their quality of life; they should be given the liberty to choose induced death. Also, the motive of euthanasia is to "aid-in-dying" painlessly and thus should be considered and accepted by law. Although killing in an attempt to defend oneself is far different from mercy killing, law does find it worth approving. In an attempt to provide medical and emotional care to the patient, a doctor does and should prescribe medicines that will relieve his suffering even if the medications cause gross side effects. This means that dealing with agony and distress should be the priority even if it affects the life expectancy. Euthanasia follows the same theory of dealing with torment in a way to help one die peacefully out of the compromising situation. Euthanasia should be a natural extension of patient's rights allowing him to decide the value of life and death for him. Maintaining life support systems against the patient's wish is...
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...Active Voluntary Euthanasia Active voluntary euthanasia can be considered a number of things, whether it is suicide or physician assisted suicide. Throughout this class, we have discussed various articles that dig into this issue and that I will be using in this paper to demonstrate what is accepted, and what is not by some of society’s leading scholars. Also, I will insert my own input to these views and offer more insight on what I believe is reasonable when it comes to active voluntary euthanasia. To begin, I will start off with Immanuel Kant’s article, “The Morality of Suicide.” Kant first discusses his views on people’s obligations to their own bodies. He talks about the right of freedom that we are all given, and that this freedom is to be used so as to protect life in a way. He argues that using freedom in ways that “abolish life” is “producing lifelessness,” and is therefore “self-contradictory” (385). To sum this part up, Kant believes that human beings should not “have the power to dispose of” their lives (385). After establishing his thoughts in this region, he moved on to that of suicide, which is his almost entirely against. He first comes across the argument saying that suicide is acceptable because “man is a free agent” (385). He counters this argument by explaining that yes man is a free agent, but that we are free to the point of “self-preservation” (385). To me, this means that we do things in life by our own choice, but usually these choices are made...
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...whether or not a person has a right to die. Does the government have the right to prolong your life by artificial means whether you desire it or not? With the passing of this law nationwide, you, as the voter will simply be saying, “It is YOUR choice” (Patashnik, 2004) The issue of “Having a Personal Right to Die,” has been long simmered beneath the surface in legal and political circles: under what circumstances do terminally injured and ill Americans have the right to choose to die? The Supreme Court made a definitive statement in the landmark 1990 case Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Dept. of Health that severely injured patients have a constitutional right to refuse medical treatment and die. But the court also ruled that states can require "clear and convincing" evidence of a patient's intent to forgo medical treatment, a rather high evidentiary standard to meet. History The actual word for “having a right to die” is Euthanasia. According to Dictionary.com, euthanasia is defined as the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering. The concept of Euthanasia goes as far back as 1870, when Samuel Williams, a schoolteacher, initiated the contemporary euthanasia debate through a speech given at the Birmingham Speculative Club, which was subsequently published in a one-off publication...
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