Golden Rule In Health Care

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The AND’s position states that nutrition support and hydration will abide to an informed patient with decision making capacity. In the United States the principle of autonomy is the foundation of ethical principles of medical care choices. The individual’s right to self-determination will rule out the beliefs and desires of the health care team. This is the golden rule, the standard that all health care providers must follow, respect and uphold no matter what. If a patient denies oral, enteral or parenteral nutrition the best thing to do is attempt to educate and inform the patients about the benefits and possible risks that of such options. Providing information will help the patient make their decision and reducing the amount of stress from …show more content…
In most cases the decision maker will be the spouse or family, in which they will have to be provided with information to increase justification upon their decision. There are many court cases from which the AND’s position uses as examples for morality and ethics. For example the case of Baby K who was born with anencephaly that required a respirator many times for life support. The father and hospital believed it unethical to place the baby through such burden, however the mother was in favor of such procedure. The Virginia court mandated that such decision belonged to only the parents and favored the parent who supported life. The Wanglie case is an example where the best decision maker was the husband over immediate family. The husband’s decision was to maintain her on artificial nutrition and respirator support, however before the court reached a decision the 86 year old lady passed away. In 1998 the case of Finn vs Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia is a great example of a court ruling based on a vegetative state patient. Mrs.Finn won the case deciding to withhold artificial nutrition and hydration. The court justified its decision by stating he removal of food and hydration would allow the natural process of dying to occur and it is not …show more content…
The goals of a dietitian must be measurable, realistic and a reachable outcome of favor elongating and improving quality of life. Geriatric patients with advanced dementia are the highest at risk population for getting a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy tube (PEG) placed in order to receive tube feeding. AND’s position does not support the use of PEG tubes for this population. Research evidence denies the benefits of prolonging life, prevent aspiration pneumonia, improve function and reducing risks such as pressure ulcers, infections or provide palliation. This procedure appears to be physician driven; it appears that their recommendation were of high influence in the decision making process. The newest evidence recommends physicians to recommend hand help reduce dietary restrictions and allow the patient’s be the deciding factor of what and how much food will be provided. This will aid in reducing the amount of stress and agitation, in comparison to a demented patient with a PEG whom is restrained or sedated to prevent the PEG from being

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