Ethical and Legal Issues in Nursing In nursing profession, The America Nursing Associate (ANA) Code of Ethic acts as a backbone to guide health care team to look deep into all different angle when making ethical decision. The Code of Ethic was created to assist nurses to preserve his or her professional principle of values, morals and ethical when caring for patients. Every nurses have a duty to protect and respect all patients' cultural belief, values, and dignity. Moral and ethical principles are the cord to direct any ethical decision making. It is a path to the open road for nurses to gain critical thinking, differ aspect of life.
American Nurses Association Code of Nursing Ethics The ANA Code of Nursing Ethics consists primarily of nine statements that help guide the actions and behaviors of a registered nurse (RN). In the case study of a 79-year-old female who becomes unresponsive, has no advanced directive. The attending physician has recommended surgery to remove the blood clot but cannot offer much assurance that she will recover neurological function. The family is split between the husband who wants to try anything to save her, and her children who believe she would not want to be kept alive in a miserable state. According to the ANA code of ethics, the RN’s primary commitment is to the patient and to protect the health, safety, and rights of the patient.
After reviewing each specific case study, the team will examine the fundamental legal aspects, the legal responsibilities of nurses in the work setting, how personal and societal values can influence ethical decision making, and how the American Nurses Association Code of Ethics would influence a final decision in each case study. The fundamental aspects of each case must be understood to make a decision. In the case of a potential end-of-life decision, there are multiple family members with conflicting views trying to make a decision on behalf of a 79 –year old female who has suffered a hemorrhagic stroke and is in an unresponsive state on a ventilator. There is no advanced directive or durable power of attorney. In the case of malpractice, a nurse has been called as a witness to testify against a fellow colleague who performed negligent patient care resulting in harm.
http://www.enotes.com/code-ethics-nurses-reference/code-ethics-nurses Definition A code of ethics is a guide for an individual or group to follow in making decisions regarding ethical issues. Description In the broadest sense, ethics are the principles that guide an individual, group, or profession in conduct. Although nurses do make independent decisions regarding patient care, they are still responsible to the profession as a whole in how those decisions are made. From the earliest concept of nursing, the proper behavior and conduct of a nurse was closely scrutinized. Florence Nightingale wrote of specific issues of conduct and moral behavior.
Registered nurses are in a position to advocate for the rights of their patients and are often involved in ethical decision-making processes. Ethical decisions arise when the nurse is faced with a choice, in which he or she believes there is the potential for a bad or good outcome. In the case of Marianne the ethics committee will have to weigh the physician’s recommendation of surgery to remove the clot, her husband’s desire to “try everything” and her children’s belief that she would not want to have surgery only to live with a poor quality of life. In a malpractice case it is essential to remember the ANA Code of Ethics. According to “Code of Ethics” (2007), the second provision states, “The nurse’s primary commitment is to the patient, whether an individual, family, group, or community” (ANA, 2001, p. 18).
Fundamental legal aspects of each case The ANA Code of Ethics are used to help uphold fundamental legalities. When we look at the ethical responsibility and fundamental legalities that are associated with direct patient care and as it applies in the case study case study of patient Marianne, a 79 year-old female, who is brought to the emergency department with hemorrhagic stroke, a bad prognosis of recovering and she does not have an advance directive. The legal aspects of the legal responsibilities of the registered nurse who was a witness in a malpractice case of a nursing colleague that was found to be negligent in following the standards of the nursing practice. The primary obligation of the nurse is to protect the patient’s best interest, maintaining safety, dignity and ethical accountability, which is essential in the first case of Marianne, as she is neurologically unstable and unable to have a voice in her care and does not have a living will. According to the ANA Code of Ethics, the nurse is responsible to provide the family with full disclosure about Marianne’s condition and inform the family of possible outcomes of having
But you aren’t able to; you have to do what is required of your job. Ethical decision making is a skill that can be learned, based on an understanding of underlying ethical principles, ethical theories or systems, a decision making model, and the Nursing Code of Ethics. The nurse is legally responsible for using their knowledge and skills to provide for the safety and comfort of their patients. The nurse is also ethically responsible for acting as a patient advocate to safeguard patients’ rights. Each situation has to be assessed; the nurse may use the Six-Step process in assessing their ethical dilemma.
Ethical and Legal Issues in Nursing The nurse has a unique ability to follow a specific and a general code of ethical decision-making while caring for the most vulnerable of patients. The nurse must navigate public health law, educational law, and his or her institutional policies while keeping his or her own personal beliefs from controlling what is best for the patient. Ethics are “the principles of conduct governing one’s relationships with others-basic beliefs of right and wrong…. Law is the minimum ethic, written down and enforced.” (Ellis& Hartley, 2008, p. 288) The registered professional nurse must use resources to assist her, including the ANA Code of Ethics and the state’s nurse practice act. A final influence in the case of both of these cases, as with case one, Marianne could not make her decisions, as a patient advocate, the code ethics states in provision 1.3, “The nurse respects the dignity and rights of all human beings irrespective of the nature of the health problem.
When providing patient care in the healthcare field, as professionals, nurses need to be prepared for the challenges that might arise on the hospital setting. Being prepared can make challenges or situations in the nursing field less difficult or provide less resistance for decisions to make in delivering the best quality of care. Whether it is caring for a minor in labor or a same sex couple in the hospital being evaluated, special protocols must be implemented to provide the highest quality of care. As in the case of Rachel who is a minor unwed and in the early stages of labor admitted to the hospital, accompanied by her parents who has not been given meds or been seeing by the physician on duty who happens to be attending another emergency. Where clearly has brought a difficult situation to the healthcare team of the hospital raising ethical and legal issues in all aspects due to the fact that the parents of the pregnant teen have refused any assistance and the nurse assigned has complied silently.
Ethical Issues in Nursing This book examines major ethical issues in nursing practice. It eschews the abstract approaches of bioethics and medical ethics, and takes as its point of departure the difficulties nurses experience practising within the confines of a biomedical model and a hierarchical health care system. It breaks out of the rigid categories of mainstream health care ethics (autonomy, beneficence, quality of life, utilitarianism…) and provides case studies, experiences and challenging lines of thought for the new professional nurse. The contributors examine the role of the nurse in relation to themes such as informed consent, privacy and dignity, and confidentiality. Nursing accountability is also considered in relation to the contemporary Western health care system as a whole.