ETHICAL WORK 8 ETHICAL WORK 1 Ethical Work Nurses Contribution to the Realization of a Healthy Society

Running head: ETHICAL WORK 1
Ethical Work
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Ethical Work
Introduction
Nurses play a crucial role in the realization of a healthy society by delivering quality
care that meets the needs of patients (Grace , 2017). Medical standards of practice and
codes of ethics have been primary in the nurses’ ability to provide quality care. This is so
because medical standards and codes of ethics guide the nurses on how to make the right
decisions in the process of delivering quality care that meets the unique and challenging
needs of patients (Kangasniemi, Pakkanen & Korhonen, 2015). However, some of the
nurses are not conversant with these medical standards that guide their operations which
results in ethical issues in the process of delivering quality care. In this paper, various ethical
concerns that arise in different case studies and the ethical principles that apply will be
critically analyzed.
QUESTION ONE (1): Identify and discuss the ethical issues in this
case using the ‘four principles approach’
Even though all the four ethical principles apply to this cases study, this response will
focus on the principle of autonomy and beneficence. One of the main ethical issues that can
be deduced from the case study is refusing treatment. Based on the case study, the patient
undergoing rehabilitation was prescribed to wear pressure garments to help manage his scar.
However, when the visiting health team that was conducting follow-up visited the patient,
they found out that the patient had stopped wearing pressure garments 2 weeks ago. Since the
pressure garments were meant to manage the scar of this patient, stopping to wear them is a
clear indication of refusing treatment which from health perspective is an ethical issue. But
the principle of autonomy believes that the patient has a right to retain control of his body and
a doctor cannot coerce the patient (Atkins et al., 2017). Based on this principle, it’s evident
that the patient's decision to stop wearing garments is right and should be respected by the

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medical doctors without questioning especially given that the patient's elasticity had
deteriorated as a result of wearing pressure garments. Another ethical issue is harming the
patient. From the case study, it’s evident that even though the pressure garments were meant
to help manage the scar of the patient, they caused the patient more harm since the patient’s
elasticity deteriorated as a result of putting on the garments. According to the principle of
beneficence, all the actions of the doctors should benefit the patient (Adler-Nissen &
Kropp, 2015). Since the actions of the doctors of prescribing the patient to put on pressure
garments did not benefit the patient, it means that the doctors went against this principle of
beneficence and that is an ethical issue (McCarthy & Gastmans, 2015). The main point
that this case study communicates is that it’s important for the nurses to b conversant with
principles of ethics when handling clients.
QUESTION TWO (2): What are the ethical principles raised in this
case? Give reasons for your answers.
All the four ethical principles apply to this case study. However, this response will
focus on the principle of Non-Maleficence and justice. One of the ethical principles that can
be deduced from this case is the principle of justice. The principle of justice, in summary,
believes that all medical decisions should be based on the element of fairness (Bernstein,
2014). Based on this case study, the girl that approached the health professional demanded
that the health professional administers a vaccine of human papillomavirus to her because the
information she got from social media stipulates it’s the right age for her to receive the
vaccine. However, it’s not recommended for a health professional to make a medical decision
based on the information from social media because there is no evidence that the information
is true and if the person who published it is accredited medical expert (Jahanpour et al.,
2014). Also, health professionals specialize in different areas, for example, some doctors
specialize in disease prevention while others specialize in treating diseases. In the case study,
the area that the health professional approached by the girl specialized in was not mentioned.