Patient's Right - Assignment Example

Patients should consent to care independently without the influence of the caregiver. However, in some instances, consent to care may be hard to realize. This occurs in the case of an emergency. Incompetent patients who cannot make informed decisions on whether to accept or reject treatment calls for a third party; that consents on behalf of the patient. Parents, close relatives or court-appointed guardians are involved in this case (Council of Ethical and Judicial Affairs, 1995). Mr. X who suffers from a GI disorder expresses dissatisfaction, anger or bad feelings towards a nurse who wants to administer enema to him.

As earlier pointed out, patients have the right to accept or reject treatment. This patient is termed depressed and uncooperative. However, the fact that he expresses his concern towards the treatment sets him in a position where he can make a sound decision in regard to the treatment. Mr. X is uncooperative, meaning that he fails to practice or put into action what the nurses require of him. Therefore, the patient is a state that allows him to make independent choices on the treatment offered to him.

He can choose whether to take it or leave it. The nurse disregards the patient’s concern and goes ahead to administer the enema. Although the nurse has a legal responsibility to take care of the patient, it is the patient’s decision to accept or reject the care. When the patient tells the nurse that he does not want the enema administered, the nurse should have made a consideration of the patient’s protests before going ahead to administer it. A consideration was important in this context because patients have a right to refuse treatment (Council of Ethical and Judicial Affairs, 1995).

The nurse may have disregarded the patient’s protests on the basis that he was depressed and uncooperative. However, if the nurse made her decision based on this factor, her decision would not be binding until a third party is involved. A close family member to Mr. X would have been involved in the decision of whether to administer the enema or not. Therefore, the patient has a legal case against the nurse. The nurse fails to listen to the patient, and therefore goes ahead and does what she thinks is best for the patient.

Failure to listen to the patient and the fact that the nurse ignored the role of a third party in the care giving decision results in an intentional tort. Since the nurse has a legal responsibility to take care of the patient, the nurse should have taken time to explain the benefits of enema to the patient. On the same note, the nurse should have highlighted the relative risks of refusing the enema. It is important to consider that the patient is said to be depressed and uncooperative. In this regard, the role of a close member comes in.

The nurse should have consulted Mr. X’s family before administering the enema if she thought that Mr. X was only being stubborn. Although the patient is termed to be uncooperative, he takes his time to explain what happened to his son. In this case, the relationship between the father and the son can be defined to be a good one. The nurse should have waited for a family member like Mr. X’s son to decide and consent on whether the enema should be administered or not. This way, the nurse could not have