The Nurse's Dilemma Being Asked Not To Tell Case Study

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The Nurse’s Dilemma: Being Asked Not To Tell The Nurse’s Dilemma: Being Asked Not To Tell Nurses face ethical dilemmas on a regular basis. As nurses work to provide health care services, we often are asked to participate in ethically questionable activities (Potter, Perry, Stockert, & Hall, 2012). Today, a patient who was newly diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer with metastasis to her bones was admitted to the hospice unit. Her daughter is her primary caregiver and has asked me to deceive her mother by “turning over” my badge and telling her mother that I am from a home health agency. She specifically requested that I “do not say hospice” because she believes that her mother doesn’t know she has been admitted to the hospice unit. The patient is 86 years old and is alert and oriented to person, place and time. She has had some college education, is fully aware of her person, surroundings and her family dynamics. She is aware that…show more content…
I feel that withholding information on a lucid patient fully in control of her mental faculties is tantamount to lying. I believe the patient has the right to know the conditions surrounding her health care treatment plan. Step 4 I verbalize the problem by saying, “Should I inform the patient of her terminal health care condition or should I follow the wishes of the patients’ daughter and withhold information on the seriousness of her condition?” Step 5 There are many courses of action possible, but I believe the best outcomes would like along these three possible scenarios. The first option would be to disclose all medically pertinent information to the patient so that she is fully informed. The second option would be to as for assistance from a social worker or a preacher or priest from the members church to talk with the daughter and mother. The final option would be to concede to the daughters’ wishes Step

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