Legal and Ethical Principles in Health Care

Running Head: 2805NRS LEGAL AND ETHICAL PRINCIPLES IN HEALTH CARE
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Essay title: 2805nrs Legal and Ethical Principles in Health Care
Word count: 2012 words (excluding title page, reference list/bibliography and appendices)

12805NRS LEGAL AND ETHICAL PRINCIPLES IN HEALTH CARE
Introduction
Legal issue is a legitimate question which is the underpinning of the case. It requires
decision from court. Ethical issue is referred to as any problem which is solved on the basis
of right that is ethical and wrong (Phelps, Regen, Oliver, McDermott & Faull, 2017). This
essay will focus on a case study of Richard, who went to minimally conscious state and has
lost his decision making ability and hence, cannot give his consent during his treatment. The
ethical issues discussed in the essay are whether forgoing treatment in case of Richard is right
(ethical) or not, different point of views of Meryl and Lucas regarding Richard’s treatment.
Legal issue explained in the essay are importance of patient’s consent prior to treatment, legal
obligations, Queensland legal authority and substitution decision maker.
Ethical issue
Kerridge’s introduced an ethical decision making model consist of 7 steps using
systemic approach. It is used to detect the ethical issue and the values of the acknowledged
issue is evaluated. According to the model of ethical decision, at first it is required to gather
the facts about the patient to make an ethical decision (Walker & Lovat, 2016). Here the
patient is Richard, who was heavily injured during a blast in a mine. He had several head
injuries and facial and skull fractures. During treatment, he went into a minimally conscious
state and the chances of his recover is very less. The model also describes the problem from
other’s perspective who are close to the patient and cares for the patient. It is done when the
patient is not in the state of decision making and have to rely on others for the decision
regarding the treatment.
Meryl being his wife, is the most closest to Richard. After several attempts also,
Richard’s health is showing poor progress and is life threatening for him and was provided
with life sustaining treatments, but then also Meryl believes that withdrawing the treatments

22805NRS LEGAL AND ETHICAL PRINCIPLES IN HEALTH CARE
is not the solution. She knows that Richard’s condition is showing no progress then also her
mind believes that Richard will get well soon. Withdrawing life sustaining treatment is
extremely painful for the families. No one wants to lose their loved one, even though they
know that chances of there is almost no chance of recovery. In such cases, family should be
well prepared to look how actually the death process looks like (Phua, et al., 2015).
Another person, who is close to Richard is Lucas. Lucas is the crew manger of the
mine and his best friend. He believes that forgoing life sustaining treatments is best in case of
Richard. Richard is in minimally conscious state. By observing the health progress of Lucas,
he supported the doctor’s suggestion to stop the treatment. Family members and closed one
remain in confusion till the treatment is on (Hickman, Keevern & Hammes, 2015). They do
not want to lose their loved ones but life sustaining treatments are extremely costly and it
creates a financial pressure on the family. In addition, the patient also has to go through a lot
of pain and sorrows as the treatment is really painful. The patient is not able to take care of
themselves and going through a lot of distress. It is usually done in a patient who have almost
no chance of recovery (Curtis, et al., 2016).
Meryl and Lucas both have different beliefs regarding Richard’s treatment. Meryl
believes that Richard is able to understand everything and will recover. He was unable to
move even after insertion of tracheostomy and hence, doctors suggested that it is better to
stop the treatment as it is only increasing the financial pressure on the family, but Meryl
disagrees. She has done research and has gone through several cases similar to that of the
Richard, where she has studied that, several people had recovered from coma and traumatic
brain illness after prolonged period. Even though she knows that Richard hates being reliant
on others, she is against the idea of stopping the treatments. She is in the hope that even if he
does not recover fully, he will be able to live and communicate with her and their children. In
contrast, as being Richard’s best friend he was in the favour of the decision, as it was earlier