ETHICS IN NURSING 3
skill and knowledge on upbringing of the child, the little girl may hardly survive, and in case of
survival, the newborn may be severely handicapped.
Yet it is important for Dr. Barnes to understand that health is a universal right and the
focus should be in advancing health even in extreme and complex cases. (Cohen, & Ezer, 2013) I
understand that to Dr. Barnes, quality of life is more important than just life that is what guides
treatment process and decisions made. As a doctor, it is responsible to consider and think of the
intended quality of life of your patient. But we all agree that ethically, end of life decisions are
for the patients to make not the doctors. It is important to allow room for consideration that
some clients will just need more time to live and survive, regardless of the quality of life.
(Dionne, & d’Agincourt-Canning, 2015) There is a possibility that this child would have
survived and become an adult, and despite being handicapped, still, appreciate the chance to live.
People have different viewpoints, and probably the parents would have opted for their newborn
baby to live no matter what it takes. It is ethical for parental consent to be sought where possible.
In this case, it is unethical to overrule parental consent. Dr. Barnes assumed full responsibility
for the child and went ahead to remove life support, ventilation support and making an end of life
decisions. Dr. Barnes decides to inform the parents only after instructing the neonatal nurse
(Simmons) to make the infant comfortable and alert him once she dies.
The statement by Dr. Barnes that these parents lack the relevant skills and resources to
raise the child with such complications might be true but still based on assumption. It is
incompetent to base one's argument and decisions on an assumption. Dr. Barnes states that the
young parents will get more other babies. This is lack of etiquette, it is unprofessional and an
unethical code of conduct. No child replaces another and child loss is not a trivial matter, all life
matter.

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