Making the Best Choice The purpose of this discussion is focused on ethical concerns of a nurse who is dealing with a 17 year old female patient who moved out of her mother's house due to sexual abuse from her stepfather and went to live with her biological father who happens to be physically abusive to her as well. The ethical principles involved in this case are confidentiality, nonmaleficence, veracity, autonomy, and beneficence. Dealing with the fact that Lora does not want her nurse to report the physical abuse because she does not want to get her father in trouble and most importantly be forced back into her stepfather's house. According to the American Nurses Association (as cited by Burkhardt & Nathaniel, 2014) the ethical principal of confidentiality is to keep a patient's secret and not to share it with anyone unless it's necessary to provide care, (ANA, 2001), which is mostly what this nurse is facing in this story. Veracity means telling the truth, which is also a dilemma that the nurse is facing dealing with whether tell the truth or keep the secret as Lora wishes. According to Burkhardt and Nathaniel (2014),
…show more content…
If this problem is not fixed she might suffer more traumatic injuries or even death. The fact that she is a minor makes things a little more complicated because she is going to need guardianship until she becomes an adult and her father and step father should be facing some type of consequences. The principle of confidentiality can be breached when dealing with a minor and when minor is dependent on others (Burkhardt & Nathaniel, 2014). If the nurse chooses not to report the abuse she will face violation under the ohio revised code 2151.421 (State of Ohio, 2006). According to the section 5121.173 of the revised code, the nurse reporting the abuse should call the public children services agency ( State of
If this problem is not fixed she might suffer more traumatic injuries or even death. The fact that she is a minor makes things a little more complicated because she is going to need guardianship until she becomes an adult and her father and step father should be facing some type of consequences. The principle of confidentiality can be breached when dealing with a minor and when minor is dependent on others (Burkhardt & Nathaniel, 2014). If the nurse chooses not to report the abuse she will face violation under the ohio revised code 2151.421 (State of Ohio, 2006). According to the section 5121.173 of the revised code, the nurse reporting the abuse should call the public children services agency ( State of