Types of Legal and Ethical Responsibilities Nurses Have - Assignment Example

? Final project What types of legal and ethical responsibilities did the nurses have to this patient? Ethics is largely comprised of the principles of good conduct and the moral judgment. In every nursing environment there are key principles that nurses must uphold while dealing with patients. Some of the major principles includes: beneficence, non-malfeasance, autonomy, and justice. In this case scenario, the nurses failed to promote beneficence, which involves doing absolute good in order to promote good health to the patients. Nurses have an obligation of ensuring that patient's interests are highly promoted in order to obtain optimal results. Another element of ethics that nurses failed to observe is the principle of Non-malfeasance, which means shying away from causing any harm to the patients (Guido, 2010). Nurses are expected to illustrate a high level of competence in order to avoid any injures or suffering to the ailing patients. This principle also comprises the reporting of the nurses that fail to adhere to the ethics and laws of nursing, and, those suspected of going against the nursing rules are nullified. Nurses also failed to adhere to the rules of Autonomy. This principle deals with independence and the capability to have self- direction. This means that patients are given the right towards self-determination. In this case, patients have a right to know how they are fairing and therefore, have a right to either accept or deny treatment (Guido, 2010). The rights of the patients must be respected. Finally, according to the principle of justice, patients should receive treatment fairly and equitably. This means that nurses should spend ample time with patients and offer absolute attention to the satisfaction of the patients. In addition to the ethical issues, nurses had a legal obligation to this patient. The presence of law in nursing practice is to ascertain that both the nurses and patients are protected from any victimization or malpractices that may compromise their profession or health respectively. In other words, nurses show competence, safety and holistic care towards their patients. In addition, they are expected to render absolute care through principles of reasonable and prudence and show some clinical competency (Guido, 2010). Was there a deviation from the standards of care in this instance? Explain It is the role and responsibility of the nurses to ensure that patients receive maximum care in terms of their health. Based on this case, nurses seem to have deviated from the standards as prescribed by the principles of nursing and care. These nurses failed to show any concern on the patient yet he had admittance in their clinic. It is the responsibility of the nursing profession to owe similar duties to self and to patients, including the obligation to maintain integrity and safety, in maintaining competence and endure with individual and professional growth. However, the nurses expected to demonstrate care to the patients failed to show any sign of integrity and due care when they left the patient unattended to, and this may have led to his death (Ganske, 2010, Sept.). Another standard of care that nurses failed to adhere to is the standard of moral self respect. Moral esteem accords value and self-respect to every human being regardless their individual attributes or even circumstances in their lives. Nurses should extend such esteem towards themselves and also to the patients. In our case scenario, nurses deviated from demonstrating any form of integrity towards the patient and instead abandoned him to die in agony. As much as denying them self-esteem, such a behavior demoralizes their personal values and integrity in the nursing profession. What elements of negligence/ malpractice are demonstrated in this case? Explain Malpractice comprises the wrongful conducts demonstrated by a professional person. It also involves discharge of unacceptable professional roles or even the failure to adhere to the principle of proper care which results to interference with the health of another individual. In our case, there is failure of responsibility in the context of the nurses. In the course of the patient's stay in the clinic, nurses failed to show any compassion or responsibility as alleged by the relatives. This is very clear that the patient was ignored or there was some kind of treatment denial because at the time of her death, she had some dried feces under her finger nails indicating that she had been left for a prolonged period without either being turned or bathed. In addition to that it was reported that the patient had suffered some bed-soar at the coccyx and hipbones which indicates that the patient was never attended to and that he lay at the same position up to her death (Ganske, 2010, Sept.). Therefore, the home nursing care cannot dispute the allegation provided. As long as they knew about the patient’s condition then, failing to attend to her falls under a malpractice and Mrs. O' Hara's family has every right to sue the nurses for negligence. It is their call to attend to every person provided that the diagnosis falls under their competence and they accept any unseen liabilities whatsoever. Moreover, they make a step further and falsify the information in the patient’s death certificate. This is against the norms and ethics of the nursing profession. Instead, they are supposed to uphold absolute regardless of the consequences since that is their role, because withholding such vital information hinders follow-up of the diagnosis of the problem that the patient suffered, thus endangering the life of other individuals as well as theirs too. In the case, it was also alleged that the patient suffered malnutrition as a result being underfed and dehydrated. This falls under a form of nursing malpractice and is punishable by law. A similar case to Mrs. O' Hara's case is the case between Cynthia V.H. v. Upper Chesapeake Medical Center. In this case the plaintiff (Cynthia) filled a case against a hospital and alleged that a patient suffered serious injurious after falling (Ganske, 2010, Sept.). However, the nurses failed to attend to the patient and they never followed the suitable measures and procedures in attending to the patient. The patient needed a walker to assist her because she sustained injuries that made walking difficult, and in an attempt to walk without the help of a walker, the patient fell and broke her legs. It was held that, the medical center failed to exercise reasonable care to the patient. Cynthia is responsible for all the medical bills and seeks for reimbursement from the medical center. In this context, if proven that upper Chesapeake Medical Center failed to ethically respond to the patients’ problems, then the plaintiff is reimbursed. Therefore, as a direct course of action and proximate negligence from the nurses, the patients sustained injuries and mental anguish and they never enjoyed life to her satisfaction. What could have prevented this problem? The only that could have prevented the occurrence of this problem is if nurses were committed to offer reasonable care to the patient to the highest standards of their nursing professional. Should current policies and procedures be charged to prevent similar problem? Why and how? (Be specific about what you would say and/ give example.) As prescribed by the nursing professional standards, nurses are personally responsible in offering safe and high level of nursing care. It is the obligation of every nurse to uphold a level of competence that is essential in the current practice. In addition to that, nurses should bestow impartiality, honesty and accuracy in the information they provide in order to assist preserve a good track of health care record. Furthermore, nurses are entrusted to uphold dignity for life, culture, ethnicity, standards and beliefs towards the people they offer medical services (Ganske, 2010, Sept.). Lastly, but not the least nurses are expected to behave in accordance to the legal and ethics that defines nursing profession. Most nurses overlook some of these standards because they believe that they play a big role in ascertaining the overall health of their patients. This is the same thing that happened to nursing home staff. They assumed the condition of the patient which caused her death. I suppose that the nursing policies are intact, but the nursing staff fail to adhere to them. For this reason, there is a need to introduce Advance nursing practice in order to improve the nursing profession. This implies that registered nurse undergoes advanced training in order to professional handle patients with reasonable care and dignity (Ganske, 2010, Sept.). Who needs to be involved if any changes are made to the policy and procedures manual? Changing the nursing profession is an imperative aspect in obtaining an efficient and affordable health care system, which is available and equitable to all. In order to experience such changes, there is a need to have strong leadership in order to have a complete transformation of the health care system. The change must commence from the bedside, to the nursing boardroom and every person must be accountable for any contributions they make towards nursing profession. In this case, I mean if there are any changes that require any amendments, then the government, health-care bodies, and patients should be incorporated in making the changes. This will ensure that any decisions made and/or any actions undertaken, whether legal or ethical are impartial (Ganske, 2010, Sept.). Should any disciplinary action be taken against nurses who cared for this patient? If yes, who is responsible for reporting the instance? To whom should this problem be reported? Who should make the decision about disciplinary action? What type of disciplinary action could be taken? Currently, nurses face a lot of pressure considering that there are various medical errors committed in the process of rendering their services. Nursing negligence is sometimes unavoidable causing either temporal or permanent injuries to patients. In whatever case, nurses should observe maximum care while rendering services because in the event of any harms to the patients, disciplinary actions are taken against nurses that cared for particular patients. In order for a negligence to qualify as a nursing negligence there must be a proof that, patients sustained injuries as a result of actions taken by nurses (Ganske, 2010, Sept.). In this case, such nurses are compelled to offer full compensation towards the patients. In some other instances, nurses are nullified from continuing with the nursing profession. When a nurse realizes there is some negligence caused by a nursing care, then, he is she has an obligation of reporting the matter to the state licensing authority which governs the nursing board. Boards of nursing takes serious measures against the malpractices committed, and they decide the course of action depending on the negligence committed (Ganske, 2010, Sept.). References Ganske, K. (2010, Sept.). Moral distress in academia. OJIN. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing. 15(3), Manuscript 6, pp. 1-11. Guido, G. (2010). Legal and ethical issues in nursing (5th ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Hall. Read More