Advance directive laws merely give doctors and others immunity if they follow it, the only reliable strategy is to discuss your values and wishes with your healthcare providers ahead of time to make sure they are clear about what you want. Although, a doctor can be held liable in a court of law for not following those orders. There is a limited amount of time in which a patient can make a medical malpractice claim. The statute of limitations for these claims may vary by each state. Life and Death Issues in Healthcare A Review of the Case Study During a scheduled appointment a patient is given the unfortunate diagnosis of colon cancer.
b. Do not resuscitate or (DNR)- This is an order placed into a person’s medical chart or medical record. It indicates that the person does not wish to be resuscitated if breathing stops. c. Durable power of attorney for healthcare- A legal document that empowers another person to make healthcare decisions for healthcare for an incompetent patient. It goes into effect after the person becomes incompetent and only pertains to healthcare decisions.
Abstract Hospital accreditation is not the same as licensure or certification. Licensure is required to operate as a hospital and overseen by state government officials. Certification affords hospitals to participate in federally funded Medicare and Medicaid programs. Accreditation is defined as “A self-assessment and external peer assessment process used by health care organizations to accurately assess their level of performance in relation to established standards and to implement ways to continuously improve.” (Raik, 2001) For this case assessment I will discuss the role of accreditation as well as whether or not accreditation is mandatory. Finally I will discuss any weaknesses inherent in the healthcare accreditation process.
With everyone’s rights in question, how do you decipher between an elderly persons rights and wishes in a long-term facility and the rights and wishes of their family or spouses? Depending on the condition of the resident this dilemma could be a type of treatment to start or stop or this could be life ending decision. The family members may want the elder to live as long as they possibly can, in some cases, not understanding or not wanting to understand their selfishness. In cases where the elder takes it upon themselves to decide their own fait based on the fact they are living everyday in serious pain could conflict with their family’s wishes. This presents an ethical dilemma for the long-term facility and the nurses who care for these patients.
When it comes to understanding health doctors and other medical professional’s use what is know as the biomedical model of health. The biomedical model treats illness as strictly something that is wrong with the workings of the body caused by things such as germs, disease and accidents and doesn’t take in to account a persons social or mental factors. The biomedical model also gives doctors a set of basic guidelines in which to work to. These guidelines include some practices that the general public would just take as obvious, for example; putting the care of the patient as top priority, to do no harm to the patient and to provide a cure for the patients ailment. These are all things we expect to get when we visit the doctor as this is why we go there.
Suicide is a lonely, desperate act, carried out in secrecy and often as a cry for help. The impact on the family who remain can be catastrophic. In some cases, families might have been unaware of the true feelings of their loved one; being forced to confront the issue of their illness may do great good, perhaps even allowing them to persuade the patient not to end their life. In other cases, it makes them part of the process: they can understand the reasons behind their decision without feelings of guilt and recrimination, and the terminally ill patient can speak openly to them about their feelings before their death. At the moment, doctors are often put into an impossible position.
For example for an infirm elderly person a staircase may be a hazard for them; they may not be able to walk up or down the stair case and fall therefore causing harm. Institutions such as hospitals and care homes try to minimise the likelihood of hazards by putting in place a set of rules or regulations. However it is unlikely that all hazards are cared for and there may be a slight risk. A risk is the chance; may it be high or low, that someone is harmed by a hazard. Risk taking is part of people’s everyday routine and all people have the right to take risks.
Even though many of these elderly patient’s have Living Wills in place, the dilemma at times is that the family is not quite ready to let go. The patient’s wish’s regarding what they would choose if faced with a terminal illness with no hope of recovery should take precedence over anything else, but this is not always the case. As healthcare workers, we are often faced with this dilemma, dealing with families not willing to let go, even though it is obvious that the patient is suffering and there is no chance of recovery. Is allowing the patient a “good death” what is morally right? Or, is honoring the family’s wishes to keep that patient alive at all cost morally acceptable?
The Patient Self-Determination Act (PSDA) is a federal law that provides patients their rights under state law to make decisions regarding their medical care, including the right to accept or refuse medical or surgical treatment (American, 2012). The Joint Commission provides guidelines to healthcare organizations regarding the standards of care and practice by healthcare professionals. Joint Commission defines informed consent as a process that protects a patient’s autonomy by providing written instructions to the healthcare provider. Patient rights protected under the Joint Commission include the right to: consent or refuse any treatment, receive compassionate care, have an advance directive, privacy, and that treatment records are confidential (Joint,
Because of this, other defenses are also used to keep these unacceptable feelings from consciousness. For example, when someone learns of the sudden, unexpected death of a loved one, at first he or she may not be able to accept the reality of this loss. The initial denial protects that person from the emotional shock and intense grief that often accompanies news of death. Chronic or terminal illnesses also encourage denial. People with such illnesses may think, "It's not so bad; I'll get over it," and refuse to make any lifestyle changes.