Ethical Dilemma In Nursing Case Study

Ethical dilemmas commonly faced in the nursing profession arises when nurses are at crossroads with moral ideologies and competing demands of miscellaneous parties—that is, the client’s desires, the physician’s orders, the family’s demands, bureaucracy of the hospital, the law, and the nurse’s physical and emotional limitations (Chambliss, 1996, p. 93). One common ethical issue encountered in clinical settings is the interjection of advance directives to the nurse’s innate duty to care. Specifically, this paper presents a case vignette about a Jehovah’s Witness refusing a necessary life-saving blood transfusion citing religious principles. After analysing the ethical dilemma, I strongly believe that the client’s autonomical decision to refuse the blood transfusion takes precedence over the nurse’s duty to care; this is further supported using ethical theories (consequentialism and deontology), biomedical principles (beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, veracity, and fidelity), and the Canadian judicial laws. …show more content…
The interdisciplinary team recommend that an immediate blood transfusion to save her life. She and her family adamantly refuses, as their belief considers accepting blood transfusions will one deprive them of eternal salvation. Even after the nurse, Henry presents the burdens of refusing treatment, she states that she would rather die than receive a transfusion (Ukachi, Morrison, VanHorn, Sundaram, & Lantos, 2013). Henceforth, the nurse is faced with the dilemma of either respect her well-informed decision, or ignore her wishes and transfuse the blood in an attempt to save her