Ethical Issues in Nursing: A Case Study of Arthur

Running head: NURSING ASSIGNMENT
NURSING ASSIGNMENT
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Introduction:
Ethics in the nursing profession have been defined as a set of standard moral principles
that are pivotal in maintaining the sanctity of the profession. It can be said that moral ethics
represent an underlying philosophy that helps in differentiating between a right or a wrong
conduct. It should further be stated that ethical principles or moral philosophy comprises of a
diverse range of pivotal elements that comprise of identification and systemization of a conduct,
followed by analyzing it with defending strategies and finally recommending essential concepts
to differentiate between what is right and what is wrong. This essay would focus on the reported
case study of Arthur and proceed with the identification of critical ethical issues while dealing
with the client and the associated implication. It would further recommend strategies that could
be taken in order to render effective professional practice.
Identification:
The case study clearly reveals that Arthur had a long medical history of epilepsy. He had
recently been admitted because of an event of tonic-clonic seizure. The medical history further
reveals that the client had also experienced episodes of status-epilepticus. The medication
therapy and the Deep Brain Stimulation therapy (DBS) have had no significant effect on the
client. The primary care provider of the client, June who is the client’s daughter thus requests the
registered nurse not to resuscitate Arthur in case of a cardio-pulmonary arrest. The scenario
typically reveals the presence of three important ethical issues. The first being the lack of patient
consent, the ethical issue related to patient advocacy, the ethical issue related to justice and the
patient dignity (Oolins & Grainger, 2015). The appeal of non-resuscitation was made by the
daughter of the client. On being asked if she had consulted the same with the client, the response
was negative. This proves that the patient consent in performing the requested act had not been

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sought by the primary care provider. At the same time, the situation had only been portrayed in
alignment to the client’s daughter’s perspective. Hence, it can be said that there is nil evidence of
patient advocacy. Further, the conscience of the registered nurse should aim at delivering justice
after analyzing the case scenario. It should also be noted that the case scenario presents an
example of compromising the patient dignity. It has been reported in studies that the first step to
provide an efficient patient-centered care is to reasonably identify the ethical issues and proceed
with the analysis of the ethical issues in relation to the professional guidelines (Kerridge et al.,
2013). Therefore, the ethical issues identified in the case scenario must be analyzed and
evaluated with the professional ethics before undertaking a clinical decision.
Analysis:
The notion of human dignity and human rights:
Human dignity and human rights advocate the choices that individuals can make for
themselves. It should be noted here that individuals irrespective of their physical or mental health
condition are entitled to live a life as per their expectation. Hence, the request made by June does
not reflect the consent of the patient in undergoing the process. In addition to this, the case
further reveals complete violation of the human rights law as guaranteed by the United Nations.
According to the human rights law, each individual is subjected to a right to life, liberty and
personal security which under no circumstance should be compromised with (Sanggaran et al.,
2014). The case also violated the Australian health care rights that guarantee to the citizens of
Australia the right to, health and healthcare, confidentiality, consent, cultural liberty and the right
to be treated with dignity and respect (Foley & Christensen, 2016). Therefore, it can be stated
that the spirit of the notion of human rights and laws must be complied with under any critical
circumstance or it would lead to fatal legal consequences.