Ethical Principles Case Study

He had been on the floor for three weeks and the medication and care provided had not provided much relief for his illness. On the third week of his care, he was becoming more and more frustrated with the management and felt that his condition would deteriorate. The physician had advice for palliative care as he felt that his condition could no longer be sustained. He confided in one of the nurses that he was planning to commit suicide and asked her not to divulge the information to anyone else. Ethical-legal Principles Violated The ethical principle of beneficence can also be breached in the dilemma if the nurse who has an established relationship and responsibility for care of the patient failed to intervene to prevent the occurrence of the patient suicide (Schor, 2014).

To establish reasoned ethical decisions is a difficult task that then should have been shared through involving and sharing the patient case to the hospital ethical committee. An urgent request for action would have been critical for the case as it was a risk of suicide which is a mental health emergency and ought to be treated with speed. The submission can be done without providing details that lead to direct identification of the patient either by withholding patient and other leading information on the patient. The ethical reasoning process is critical for health care providers as it provides a reasoned process through which nurses and other healthcare providers can utilize to identify an ethical standing the patient care. Through the ethical committee, the nurse shares the ethical concerned with other nursing team members who as a team can contribute immensely into their actions as well as in guiding on the choice of the most appropriate action by the nurse to preserve life.

The mother bore her baby who suffered brain damage due to delayed birth resulting from a shoulder dystocia. The ruled that the mother had a right to be advised on the risk and to decide which risks she was ready to bear, in failing to do so the doctor was deemed negligent. Another legal principle that applies to the case study would be the legal concern of invasion of privacy/ confidentiality. The nurse by sharing the patient’s issues against his will would constitute a breach of privacy since he had requested her not to share the information. By law the sharing against the patient consent is actionable and violates the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy Act on the protection of the patient’s confidentiality. million when one of its employee was found guilty of sharing a patient’s information.

The pharmacist had allegedly reviewed the patient’s prescribing history and had illegally shared the information with her husband with whom the patient had a paternity suit. The husband had threatened to use the information in the lawsuit. In both cases the confidential or private patient information as described in the HIPAA Act was divulged to the public or members of the public against the consent or will of the patients or clients concerned. The sharing of this information without their consent, constitutes the breach which is actionable in a court of law. Sharing the ethical dilemma with the inter-professional team’s members is a critical initial stage to enabling the healing process. Sharing of the ethical dilemma among the team members enables the members to provide alternatives that can be sought to intervene in such a dilemma.

Team collaboration provides a different sphere and perspectives through which nurses can handle the ethical dilemma and help to avoid any legal breaches that may occur as a result. Another intervention into the dilemma would be to invoke the ethical reasoning model to identify possible solutions for the case. The ethical reasoning model enables the nurse faced with an ethical dilemma to identify the possible legal and ethical issues in a case and eventually develop an intervention that mitigates both the ethical and legal concern. The legal provision is that the nurse ought to identify the priority issue in the patient care. Suicide itself is not allowed under the law and hence such commitment of contract between the patient and the nurse to keep the information a secret is void and un actionable in a court of law.

In the case, the legal duty of care is on the nurse providing care for the patient. In this regard he has a legal duty of care. A breach of this duty is actionable in court. Legal, ethical and professional aspects of duty of care for nurses.  Nursing Standard, 32(16-19), 47-52. Doi: 10. ns. e10959 Goethals, S. doi: 10. wnl. Sohn, D. Negligence, genuine error, and litigation.  International Journal of General Medicine, 49(12), 45-55. doi: 10. nejmsa1009336. Supremecourt. uk. Retrieved from https://www.