Legal and Ethical Issues in Nursing - Essay Example

? Legal and Ethical Issues in Nursing Legal and Ethical Issues in Nursing What type of legal and ethical responsibilities did thenurses have to this patient? One of the most difficult things for nurses is that everything they do is not always in the best interest of their patients. It is here that nursing ethics normally comes into play. Nursing ethics concerns the moral judgment and standards of conduct expected of them in their nursing practice, according to the American Nurses Association (2006). There are major ethical principles that nurses are expected to uphold in all situations. They include autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, veracity, confidentiality, justice, and fidelity. Based on the case before us, the nurses had the ethical responsibility of providing safe, compassionate, and competent care to the patient (Storch, Rodney, and Starzomski, 2004). In this regard, it was the responsibility of nurses to ensure that the patient is provided with the necessary treatments and care to ensure his well-being. In fact, the patient also has the right to receive treatment from nurses regardless of their status or situation. Therefore, it was the obligation of the nursing staff to ensure that the right of the patient is protected. The nurses were also under the ethical responsibility to preserve the dignity of the patient. This included the duty of providing the necessary support to ensure the patient’s dignity and integrity is maintained, according to Storch, Rodney, and Starzomski (2004). In the case before us, the patient had the right to be provided with the necessary care such as ensuring his cleanliness and well-being is assured. This includes being cleaned and turned on bed periodically to ensure his dignity is not compromised. The nurses were also under an ethical obligation to promote justice of the patient (American Nurses Association, 2006). This pertains to safeguarding the rights of the patient by acting fairly and equitably without discriminating the patient based on race, culture, ethnicity, age, sex, gender, mental or physical ability, and health status. Therefore, the nursing code of ethics required the nurses to refrain from labeling, judging, stigmatizing, or humiliating the patient when providing care. Further, the nurses had the ethical responsibility of ensuring that the privacy and confidential information pertaining to the patient are maintained, according to the American Nurses Association (2006). In this regard, the nurses were expected to ensure that any confidential information pertaining to the patient is only used for the purpose for which it is meant. Therefore, they should ensure that private and confidential information is not divulged to the public without the consent of the patient. 2. Was there a deviation from the standards of care in this instance? Explain. The case before us showed a deviation from a number of standards of care expected of the nurses in discharge of their duties. Firstly, the case manifests a deviation from the nurses’ ethical duty to provide safe, compassionate, and competent care. This is evident from the fact that the nurses at the hospital failed to ensure that the patient received the quality care. According to Mrs. O’Hara’s family, their patient died because of the nurses failed to administer the care and treatment expected. The fact that the 86-year old man laid on the bed without assistance from nurses is a clear proof of the deviation of this standard of care. The case also shows a deviation from the ethical responsibility of protecting the dignity of the patient. Every patient has a right to receive the necessary support from the health care providers such as being given the opportunity to bath and the turned on the bed in case the patient is too weak to do so by himself or herself (Burkhardt and Nathaniel, 2002). The case before us, however, shows clearly that the nurse charged with the responsibility of providing such a support failed to do so. As claimed by Mrs. O’Hara’s family, the 86-year old patient stayed for a prolonged period without bathing or turned on the bed. In addition, the patient had dried feces under her fingernails at the time of his death. Leaving a patient in such a pathetic situation undermines the dignity of the patient, which ought to be protected by the health care providers. Therefore, the failure by the nurses to adhere to provide such support to the patient amounted to a deviation from the standard of protecting the dignity of the patient. 3. What elements of negligence / malpractice are demonstrated in this case? Explain. The case before us demonstrates a breach of the duty of care, which is one of the basic elements of negligence. Health care providers are expected to observe high standards of duty of care in executing their mandate, notes Burkhardt and Nathaniel (2002). This pertains to ensuring that patients receive quality treatment and care to ensure first recovery. However, in this case, Mr. O’Hara’s family claims that the nursing staff breached this duty of care by failing to provide treatment and care expected of them. According to Mrs. O’Hara’s claim, the 86-year old patient, died because the nursing staff neglected her. However, Mrs. O’Hara’s family will still have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that negligence from indeed the factual causation of the patient’s death. The last element of negligence demonstrated in the case is that of damages suffered by the plaintiff’s family due to the negligent act of the hospital’s nursing staff. The death of the 86-year old in this case amounts to damages, which occurred due to the negligent act of the nursing staff. 4. What could have prevented this problem? This problem could have been prevented if the nursing staff could have adhered to the legal and ethical principles of the nursing practice. Adhering to the legal and ethical codes of conduct could have ensured that the nursing staff observed high degree of care in the provision of treatment and support to the patient. In such a case, even if the patient could still have died, the nursing home could not have been sued for the death. This is because Mrs. O’Hara’s family could have been satisfied that the nursing staff did all they could in order save the life of the patient. Additionally, the problem could have been prevented if the hospital could have employed competent and dedicated nursing staff. This is because the death may have been caused due to the incompetence of the nursing staff. According to the death certificate, the 86-year old died from dehydration and malnutrition. Such deaths can be prevented by competent health professionals, which seem to have been lacking. 5. Should current policies and procedures be changed to prevent similar problems? Why and how? (Be specific about what you would add, give examples, e/c.). The current policies and procedures need to be changed to prevent a similar problem from occurring in the future. This is because the current policies and procedures does has loopholes which allows nurses to do as they wish, resulting in deaths which are unwarranted. For instance, under the current policy, many nurses have escaped punishments for their negligent acts for lack of clear proof by the plaintiff (Burkhardt and Nathaniel, 2002). This has promoted such problems, which occur almost every year. The change can be made by ensuring that nurses become directly responsible for their negligent acts in discharge of their mandate. 6. Who needs to be involved if any changes are made to the policy and procedures manual? Since the successful implementation of the policies and procedures depend on how the policies and procedures are received by the health care professionals, it is very crucial that the nurses be actively involved when the changes to the policies and procedure are being made, suggests College of Registered Nurses of British Columbia (2007). Failure to involve nurses may adversely affect the successful implementation of the new policies and procedures. 7. Should any disciplinary action be taken against the 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? A disciplinary action needs to be taken against the nurses who cared for the patient. This is because the nurse failed to adhere to the nursing code of conduct, which required the nurse to observe high degree of care to the patient. The matter should be reported by any person who discovers that a certain nurse has involved in such a malpractice, according to College of Registered Nurses of British Columbia (2007). This may include the patient, her family, or colleagues. The matter should be reported to the nurses’ immediate supervisor for disciplinary action. The disciplinary action to be taken against the nurse is supposed to be determined by the employer, claims Burkhardt and Nathaniel (2002). The actions that might be taken against the nurse include termination of services, incarceration by the court, or being put on probation. References American Nurses Association. (2006). Position statement: Risk and responsibility in providing nursing care. Washington, D.C., pp.1-13. Burkhardt, M. A., & Nathaniel, A. K. (2002). Ethics & issues in contemporary nursing (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Delmar Publishers. College of Registered Nurses of British Columbia. (2007). Practice standard: Duty to provide care. Vancouver: Author. Storch, J., Rodney, P., & Starzomski, R. (2004). Toward a moral horizon: Nursing ethics for leadership and practice. New York, NY: Pearson-Prentice Hall. Read More