Amanda Keith
May 10, 2016
BIOETHICS & MEDICAL ETHICS
PHILOSOPHY 345
Case Study #4
(1) What is the central ethical issue in the case?
Chuck Held is an emergency room nurse who is being paged to the Emergency Room since an outbreak of a more virulent form of H1N1 has been confirmed in his city. He has a family, consisting of a 2-year-old son, two golden retrievers and a partner, whom is also a nurse working in another area of the hospital. He worries that he may be quarantined when arriving at the hospital. The central ethical issue is whether or not nurses, like Chuck Held have a duty and moral obligation to treat patients during an outbreak of a highly contagious virus.
(2) Who are the ”interested” parties?
The interested parties include Chuck Held, an emergency room nurse who has been paged to report to the ER. His family, consisting of his partner, dogs and son would be affected if he were to become quarantined at the hospital. Furthermore, the healthcare professionals at the hospital and the ER patients are both interested parties, both affected by the outbreak. All healthcare professionals have the ethical dilemma of whether or not to treat patients during an outbreak and the ethics committee has a duty to oversee compliance among healthcare staff and to resolve any disputes.
(3.) How would you resolve the ethical issue?
An outbreak of a more virulent form of H1N1 in the city has led to the question of whether or not it is the nurse’s duty to treat. This
Two exceptions to confidentiality in healthcare settings would be mental health patients and them presenting a serious threat to self or others. The Privacy Rule permits the care provider to disclose necessary patient information to law enforcement and family members. Another exception to confidentiality in a healthcare setting would
In the Code of Ethics for Nurses provision 4 states “The nurse has authority, accountability, and responsibility for nursing practice; makes decisions; and takes action consistent with the obligation to promote health and to provide optimal care.” This was not done, there was no regard for human life. The patients in the hospital were treated as a burden. A meeting was held where the doctors agreed that
As the nursing profession progresses throughout the years, its nature becomes more complex in meeting the professional standards and codes of ethics that are required by all nurses. The American Nurses Association has a specific code of ethics that each nurse should follow and adopt as their own beliefs. The public and the patients should be the priority when providing care in the healthcare setting. The knowledge and education that nurses’ gain is valuable and allows them to encourage health, avoid illness, restore health, and aid in coping for those who are all ill. (LeMone, pp.192) Given that the code of ethics is put into place, there are many registered nurses who violate these codes in various situations. The following will discuss
Working in the field as health care professionals, we are faced with ethical dilemmas almost always. Although each individual posses different values, there are specific codes of conduct to abide by, despite personal beliefs. Without the use of a structural code, individuals in the health care field would make decisions based on their own personal beliefs in accordance to their culture and religion. In the case of Marion and the pacemaker, we witness the desires of the patient at hand, Marion, and her family, be interrogated by the floor nurses. Although the intent behind the actions of the floor nurses can be described as morally just, thinking they are helping preserve the life of Marion, based on medical ethics, their behavior is of some degree to be questioned. This paper will focus on the boundaries we witness crossed by floor nurses and how they go against the medical ethics approved, and what effects they have on patients and their care givers.
Healthcare providers have a moral and ethical obligation not to do harm to patients. Mandatory vaccination could prevent harm from being done to patients by preventing the spread in influenza. “Nursing is the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities,
There are many ethical dilemmas that occur daily in our hospitals across the world. Not everyone agrees with standards and policies that are required in hospitals or even with the law. If not everyone obeys the law, ethical cases form. In Springfield, Missouri, a holistic nurse got fired for fighting against Cox South hospital policies. Carla Brock has been a nurse at Cox South hospital and not only refused the flu shot, but also refused to wear a mask. She refused due to religious beliefs, she gets short of breath while wearing the mask, and she feels the mask is meant to intimidate and humiliate those who refuse the shot. The ethical question in this case study is to decide if Carla should have been fired for not wearing a mask after refusing the flu shot and what are other potential proposals. The four-way method will separate out what are the truths, consequences, fairness, and character, of this ethical case study.
In discussing the difficult subject of biomedical ethics, there are different scenarios that play out differently because of people’s views about morality. Consider the scenario of an eighty year-old man whom we will call Mr. Simpson. Years of getting the flu with complications has left Mr. Simpson’s lungs very weak and unable to take another year of the flu. In fact another year of the flu will likely kill him. He does not want the flu shot because he sincerely believes that the actual flu shot will give him the flu. With further research, the doctor and the family find that Mr. Simpson will accept an immune boosting shot only. If the physician lies to Mr. Simpson about the injection then he will
Vaccinations have been a topic of controversy among various populations for decades. The controversy exists around the decision to be vaccinated for certain contagious diseases or to omit receiving vaccinations for various reasons including those of medical, ethical, and religious derivation. The profession of healthcare faces a particular obstacle in regard to annual vaccinations against influenza. This review will discuss the following ethical debate: Is it ethical to mandate health care workers to receive annual influenza vaccinations? For the purposes of this review, the term ‘health care worker’ will be defined as any person who is employed by a health care institution and participates in personal interactions with patients. Undoubtedly, registered nurses (RNs) are among the most prevalent of all health care workers. This topic was chosen because influenza is a rampant and contagious respiratory virus that carries the potential to infect anyone. According the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) (2014), approximately 5 to 15 percent of the United States population becomes infected with influenza annually and roughly 200,000 people are hospitalized each year due to influenza. Clearly, influenza generates havoc for many people; however, the virus can be largely prevented by receiving an annual vaccination. Annual influenza vaccinations have been rendered the best way to prevent seasonal influenza and have also been deemed safe (CDC, 2014). Health care workers
In conclusion, healthcare workers should have to receive a mandatory influenza vaccine to ensure a safe environment for patients to be treated. The worker’s rights are not violated
Ethically we must also respect and support each other as co-workers and protect each other from being infected by the flu. It is shown that when influenza vaccination is mandatory, many workers will choose not to get the vaccine because healthcare workers feel that they are not being given the choice to opt out of not having to get either vaccinated and must wear a mask. Nevertheless, if influenza is not mandatory many healthcare workers tend to get the vaccination, as all healthcare workers have one goal and that the protection of our other fellow workers as well as
In 2012, British Colombia became the first jurisdiction in Canada to institute a mandatory policy, that requires health-care workers (HCW) in the province to either get the flu vaccine each year, or wear masks; while caring for patients during the flu season, and it lasted approximately four months [1]. Under this policy, anyone who does not abide by it will face discipline actions or even possible termination. Since then, there have been intensive debates around this policy. The supporting argument lies in the issues of HCW protection and the public’s expectation that acts on the best interests of patients. The purpose is to promote employee productivity by preventing employees from getting flu and passing virus to patients when providing care. The Canadian Nurses Association declares that “It is CNA’s position that all
I chose to analyze provision three contained in the American Association Code of Ethics. Provision three explores a nurses daily duty as it relates to patient rights as well as safety and patient privacy. In addition to other healthcare related responsibilities a nurse is effectively, a valuable patient advocate who must work to ensure that patients are treated fairly and competently, not only from the nursing staff, but all caregivers. (American Nurses Association). If a situation concerning incompetent care from other healthcare providers should arise, the nurse must assess issue on behalf of the patient and initiate action to have the issue corrected.
Ethical principals are the seed of which nursing flourishes from. Many ethical principals were involved and dishonored in this case such as, justice, autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, confidentiality and fidelity (Burkhardt et al., 2014). I believe justice was the main principal involved as the entire ethical predicament was revolved around unjust behavior and treatment of the residents. The residents were treated poorly and given unequal rights as a causation of their illnesses. Autonomy, an essential piece of human rights was also being violated in this ethical dilemma. The residents did not have any choice or independence in their care or how they were being treated. Beneficence and non-maleficence are significant dynamics of this ethical situation, as the health care providers needed to reflect on how they can have the maximum benefit while diminishing possible damage to the residents (Burkhardt et al., 2014). Our actions as nurses should always be beneficent and non maleficent, continuously being kind, compassionate and doing what is in their best interest as well a removing and preventing harm. Confidentiality is a key component of nursing and it was blatantly being violated as the health care
Picture this scenario: You are working in the emergency room of a public hospital where the
Professionals in every field are always confronted with some kind of ethical issues. It has however been noted that these ethical issues become high in magnitude and extent when public officials are involved. Due to the involvement of human life, an industry like healthcare holds ethics in highest regard. Even though these healthcare practitioners are highly trained to deal with issues of these kinds, their decisions can sometimes have a lasting impact on their professional and personal lives (Edwards 2009).