In our nursing 110 class, professional nursing practice has been studied, using the College of Registered Nurses of British Columbia (CRNBC) Standards of Practice. In this paper, I focus on Ethical Practice Standard 4, and talk about the ethics involved in nursing by describing a narrative that includes many moral decisions that a nurse could potentially be involved in.
The Narrative Ed (a name used to protect client confidentiality) is a 95 year old man living in a long term care facility, who has severe dementia. In the past week, he has stopped being able to eat and drink thickened fluids because his swallowing reflex isn 't working. He has no detectable response to stimuli of any sort. The doctor in the care facility says his organs may …show more content…
The scenario above has a multitude of ethical issues to discuss. I will focus on the issues regarding Ed 's palliative stage of life and what decisions that entails regarding his level of comfort. These issues mainly center around choices the nurse has to make surrounding the clients family and doctor. With disagreement between family members, the nurse is put in a difficult position. The wife of Ed may either not have come to terms with her husbands state, or she feels guilty for accepting to withdraw care and wants to do everything she can do to prolong her husbands life, despite the meaning it had to Ed himself. Her motives could be out of guilt because with whatever decision she makes, she may have to endure negative feelings. She could either feel guilty for not persisting health care staff prolong his life, but if she agrees to let him die she could have doubts regarding her decision. Ed 's other family members feel that resources were being wasted, and didn 't want Ed to suffer any longer. He had an advanced directive, and the document should be upheld to Ed 's wishes. They feel that even though Ed has no responses, he could be in pain, and just want to let him die by natural means of not eating or drinking. The nurse 's challenge here is to approach the entire family and explain Ed 's health status, and the suggested course of action, while respecting the family. Another issue in this scenario closely related Ed 's situation is the ability to have a painless death. Many doctors are hesitant to prescribe large amounts of pain medication to clients close to death for fear of hastening death, however a nurse may want the client to be as comfortable as
The Narrative Ed (a name used to protect client confidentiality) is a 95 year old man living in a long term care facility, who has severe dementia. In the past week, he has stopped being able to eat and drink thickened fluids because his swallowing reflex isn 't working. He has no detectable response to stimuli of any sort. The doctor in the care facility says his organs may …show more content…
The scenario above has a multitude of ethical issues to discuss. I will focus on the issues regarding Ed 's palliative stage of life and what decisions that entails regarding his level of comfort. These issues mainly center around choices the nurse has to make surrounding the clients family and doctor. With disagreement between family members, the nurse is put in a difficult position. The wife of Ed may either not have come to terms with her husbands state, or she feels guilty for accepting to withdraw care and wants to do everything she can do to prolong her husbands life, despite the meaning it had to Ed himself. Her motives could be out of guilt because with whatever decision she makes, she may have to endure negative feelings. She could either feel guilty for not persisting health care staff prolong his life, but if she agrees to let him die she could have doubts regarding her decision. Ed 's other family members feel that resources were being wasted, and didn 't want Ed to suffer any longer. He had an advanced directive, and the document should be upheld to Ed 's wishes. They feel that even though Ed has no responses, he could be in pain, and just want to let him die by natural means of not eating or drinking. The nurse 's challenge here is to approach the entire family and explain Ed 's health status, and the suggested course of action, while respecting the family. Another issue in this scenario closely related Ed 's situation is the ability to have a painless death. Many doctors are hesitant to prescribe large amounts of pain medication to clients close to death for fear of hastening death, however a nurse may want the client to be as comfortable as