Emma is a 7-day old female with Trisomy 13. She has hypotonia, a VSD, cleft lip and polydacly. Her parents have been counseled that only 5-10% of children with Trisomy 13 live beyond their first year of life. The parents want to pursue all possible treatment for Emma.
1. What ethical principles are involved in this case?
Emma is a 7 day-old, female who was diagnosed with Trisomy 13. She has a medical history of hypotonia, VSD, cleft pallet and polydacly. The ethical principles that involved in this case includes beneficent, nonmaleficence and justice. Justice when considered as an ethical principle emphasize on equal access to care and fair allocation of health care resources (Zawistowski, 2012). Generally, it is a crucial aspect …show more content…
As a health care provider, I will explain all the consequences with the consideration of Emma’s hypotonia and her need of ventilatory support. As a health care provider, I am Ethically obligated to inform the parents about the controversy in managing patients with Trisomy 13. In order to ensure Emma’s best interest, I would like to address their concerns, needs and expectations. Then, I would recommend palliative care initiation along with the curative measures. This step is to demonstrate empathy and ensure the continuum of therapeutic communication (Carey & Kosho, 2016).In addition, I will provide all the available supportive social network resources (Blue). In order, for Emma’s parents to experience a realistic situation that could aid their expectation of Emma’s quality of life if she survived (Janvier & Farlow, 2012). In another word, I will provide all the support for Emma, her family, but I will explain to them Emma’s poor prognosis resulted by her need of ventilatory support. As indicated in the literatures, patients with Trisomy 13 are very difficult to extubated when they required ventilatory support (Tsukada, Imataka, Suzumura, & Arisaka, 2012). All those adjustments to accommodate the parent’s wishes, are entitled to be modified according the severity of hypotonia and the ventilator