Ethical Decision Making in Nursing

The assignment emphasizes the need for nurses to be responsible and accountable for their actions within their duties. It stresses the importance of weighing cons and pros before making decisions that affect patients' conditions. The four principles of autonomy, confidentiality, beneficence, and justice are discussed in relation to nursing practice.

Running head: LEGAL AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS 1
Legal and ethical considerations
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LEGAL AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS 2
Legal and ethical consideration nursing case study
Introduction
All medical practitioners are highly amenable to the public, patient, employers and the
profession. In order to change the state of the healthcare, health experts should be able to respond
to client’s complaints appropriately. The primary goal of legal and ethical considerations within
the nursing healthcare is to reestablish the health of patients. Legal and ethics in nursing help to
minimize the harm and maximize the benefits of treatment (Eburn,2013 The treatment can no
longer be justified if the patient fails to take medication. It's so unfortunate that many medical
practitioners, may not understand the preference for the resuscitation (Graham et al. 2013). On
the other hand, patients do not understand their resuscitation. Nurses play a crucial role in
offering maximum qualities and support to the patients. Therefore, nurse's loyalty is required to
relieve the emotional, physical and psychological suffering that patient and the family members
experiences (McShane & Von Glinow,2013).
This paper will evaluate legal and ethical considerations that are linked to the
professional nursing issues and how they are perceived internationally. The case study involves a
patient by the name Dawn admitted with massive stroke experiences. The patient has been
unconscious for about three weeks (Cherry & Jacob,2016).). Dawn's condition was deteriorating
at a very high rate. The deuteriation forced the nurse to initiate for an alternative option through
the patient's family members. The tests done previously showed Dawn's breathing system was
compromised. In the process, the nurse felt it was important to discuss the issue with Kelvin
Jones her husband and her daughter to give her a comfortable life.

LEGAL AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS 3
The ethical and legal considerations
The ethical and legal considerations present nursing profession and healthcare practitioner with
legitimate circumstances in which choices must be made. Dawn's sickness is a big problem to the
members especially the husband who is never ready to accept her condition. Though the
diagnosis of the massive stroke was made according to the patient's test outcome.
In such conditions, it is vital for the nurse to ensure the family receives the best
knowledge concerning the stroke and its consequences. The eradication of any form of confusion
within Dawn's family members regarding her wife is very vital in trying to highlight the moral,
ethical and legal concerns. It's also necessary for Kevin Jones and her daughter to receive the
exact information concerning the health status of Dawn.
The stroke case is irreversible hence the importance to engage ethical decisions when
handling the patient. In the conversion, the nurse is giving Dawn's family the idea of looking for
another doctor or even change the facility in case they are not comfortable with the current
facility. According to (Huston, 2013) Patients with stroke cannot think and cannot communicate
with individuals around them. That means the quality of the life of that particular patient it's
impoverished. Any additional treatment can result in more considerable distress and extend the
agony experienced by the patient. The nurse judgment should, therefore, be directed by the facts
that result from the treatment. The case of Dawn seems to be less beneficial forcing the nurse to
seek more direction from Kevin's family. (Kelly et al. 2013) states that ethics in the healthcare
decision and dilemmas recur around the next option depending on the patient's best interest.
When giving Patient's health position to his or her family members, it's necessary to have
the confidence in the concept of the disease ultimately. For instance, in the case of Dawn's

LEGAL AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS 4
stroke, the nurse was familiar with her medication and the legal procedures as expected by the
family members. She termed Dawn's case a problem calls for more patient from Kevin Jones.
The reason being, nurses should be in capability to explain in details to accommodate their
predicament and the confusion. The research by (Harris, & Atkinson,2013) shows that 54% of
many health professionals have inadequate information when discussing the health condition of
the patient with the family members. That means, only a few family members can understand the
fundamental aspects of the prognosis and the diagnosis of their patient. Kevin Jones is not able to
understand the condition of his wife when revealed for the first, and that makes him feel the
nurse is incompetent. Therefore, all nurses should embrace their role in the health life care and
professionalism to the family members and patients to validate their emotions. The validation
will assist the patient's relatives to cope with the current condition of their patient. Preventing the
confusion among the relatives is essential can only through giving vivid information of the
patient. That will be helpful to the family members in understanding that the stroke has occurred.
A clear description of the diagnosis must be reinforced (Stahl, Eden, & Jirotka,2013).
It's legal to describe the patient's condition to his or her relatives. For instance, stroke can
only be defined when all the test procedures are done. From this point, the patient can now be
regarded as suffering from the stroke. The information may help the relatives to eliminate any
confusion about the patient's condition. In some states like the United Kingdom, the patent can
withhold the treatment. It's only the doctor who can withhold the therapy. Although the relatives
must be consulted (Pozgar,2014). In Dawn's case, the nurse is requesting the family members to
provide a doctor who can access the patient's independent of determining the nature of her
condition. The medical professional will use the evaluation of the risk, burdens and the general
acceptability regarding the treatment. Gunn & Taylor (2014) discussed the ethical on doctor's

LEGAL AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS 5
propriety to follow to allocate the resources in a fair manner during patient treatment
administration. Therefore, this holds the moral consideration by the medical profession when
sharing the responsibilities of the healthcare with the family members.
The described law as a high-quality code of conduct which every person should not fall
into. Then (Graham et al. 2013). Defines act as the form of rules and conduct enforced through
binding the legal authorities. Authority management will punish every ever health personnel who
breaks the law. Kevin Jones threaten to report the nurse when he feels the two had taken sides
with his daughter to frustrate him. (Elwyn, 2012) Suggested that ethics is like a moral, ethical
principle. The ethical principle acts as a guide to the nurse in making a noble decision and
upholding proper conduct when reacting to Dawn's stroke condition. The ethical principle should
guide the nurse in building a righteous judgment in her nursing health practice. Ethics and morals
work together. Their origin can be traced from a common root. The importance of incorporating
these ethical principles is recognized in the whole world. With Dawn's stroke case, the nurse was
in the noble fix to her condition. That made her arrange a conference with the family to discuss
her health. The nurse tells the husband, her situation would demand his comfortability. That
comfortability would guarantee her long life (Morton, Fontaine, Hudak &Gallo,2017).
The Main ethical principles
The four main ethical principles are beneficence, autonomy, justice, and confidentiality.
The moral principles were developed by (Cherry & Jacob,2016).). The ethical guidelines for
privacy, honest and high-quality behaviors are linked to four main principles of ethics.
The autonomy principle

LEGAL AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS 6
Concerning the autonomy principle, people should be allowed to control their health
condition and make their own decisions as well. The nursing, legal and ethics are centered on the
concepts that nursing profession is collaborative. Therefore, all the patients should have the
rights to bodily autonomy where possible. That means complying with the legislation is a must.
The control overwhelms individual information with no unjustified interruptions from other
people. Relating the ethical principle to Dawn's health condition, concealing her current state
would put Kevin in a distress condition. The rules and the regulations within the health
profession require the nurses and doctors to take care of the well-being of Dawn and that of her
family. Considering her husband's age, it's important to prevent any form of harm to him and the
rest of the family members. Thus, the confidentiality had to pave the way. Hence the nurse had
the right to consult Dawn's family members and to disclose her condition to them. (Burkhardt &
Nathaniel,2013).) states that the confidentiality and privacy is one of the rights an individual with
the stroke should uphold. To respect such rights, the nurse could not disclose the condition of
Dawn to Kevin without the consent of other family members.
Beneficence
In Kevin's point of view, the beneficence principle benefits him where he is informed of
her wife condition hence decreasing the risk of distress. The fact that Dawn is experienced the
massive stroke is still a human being, and her individuality should be respected. Kevin has the
right to keep the secret of her life. He is furious with Bronwyn's partner and tells him to keep off
the family matters. The ethical difficulties emerge between the third person and the professional
nurse confidentiality. The nurse is not so quick to excuse her daughter's partner from the family
conference. She should first seek to know why Kevin Jones is so hard on him. Research done
proved that many people are not comfortable to share the health state of their family members.

LEGAL AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS 7
The primary objective for the nurse to disclose Dawn's condition to the family members was to
seek physical and psychosocial support from the relatives (Arnold & Boggs,2015).
Confidentiality
The third principle is the confidentiality which means to keep the promise. The nurse was
able to honor the commitment of the family by availing herself to the conference. The principle
ensures the trust between the health practitioners, patients, and the family members. The family
promises to organize the independent doctor to attend Dawn and as well plans to meet them the
following day. Thus, satisfying the law of the confidentiality which states that the nursing
profession should not divulge the information of the patient without relative's consent. The nurse
is also expected to hold the anonymity even after disclosing the health condition of Dawn to her
family members. Though confidentiality doesn't mean concealing the information from the
people who can harm the information. This aspect maintained the Bronwyn's friend within the
family conservation.
Injustice
Injustice principle enables the medical practitioners to provide the patient and the family
members with what they deserve. The policy is essential in treating all people equally in public.
Justice according to (Eburn2013) means an ethical obligation in distributing the cost, benefits,
and risks in an equal manner. The nurse must possess quality and competent skills in counseling
the patient (Billings & Halstead,2015). She must protect the rights of Dawn regarding her test,
history, counseling and the treatment and educating her on how to cope with the health
condition.

LEGAL AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS 8
conclusion
The high growth of necessity within the nursing profession, ethics efficient and critical
thinking in making the decision is substantial in modern nursing practices. It doesn't need the
nurses and doctors to maintain standards only. It's imperative for the medical practitioners to
understand and have knowledge on various ethics, professional and legal matters they are faced
with within their lines of duties. Medical practitioners should always be aware of the three
fundamental roles which include confidentiality, health care for every patient and autonomy.
Therefore, all medical the practitioners should understand the three duties are supplemented by
four central ethical principles include beneficence, autonomy, confidentiality and the justice.
The nurses are encouraged to be responsible and accountable for every action they take
within the lines of their duties. That's necessary for the healthcare professionals to uphold
knowledge, the code of conducts, law, and policies to be useful in giving services. The
satisfactory values of any health practitioners are similarly important in an ethical decision
making. In every health care set up, nurses are always faced with ethical dilemmas in the choices
of the principles to use in making their decisions. These principles are autonomy, the
confidence, beneficence, and justice. In the decision making within the nursing profession, cons
and pros must be weighed before reflecting on the patient's condition. By doing this, the four
principles will not be bleached.

LEGAL AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS 9
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