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Legal and Professional Issues in Nursing Assignment

   

Added on  2019-10-30

7 Pages1946 Words152 Views
1Running head: LEGAL AND PROFESSIONAL ISSUES IN NURSING Legal and Professional Issues in Nursing Name of the studentName of the UniversityAuthor note

2Running head: LEGAL AND PROFESSIONAL ISSUES IN NURSING 1.The problem that exists for Mary isthat Sandy, a 15 year old girl coming to her for dietcounseling does not want her mother, Mrs. Wilson to know about her suspected pregnancy.Mrs.Wilson had come to Mary to know the reasons for Sandy feeling tired lately. However, the issuefor Mary is that she cannot give the detail that Sandy might be pregnant because her patient hasforbidden her to disclose this to her mother. The most basic thing that the nurse must address inthis case is to maintain patient’s right to confidentiality as well as follow her professionalresponsibilities in care. The ethical conduct of beneficence is also at stake if Mary does not tellanything about Sandy’s pregnancy to her mother (Mallari et al., 2016).2.In the case scenario of Sandy, the most important ethical and legal factor that Mary needsto consider is to maintain beneficence of patient, engage in patient-centered care, protectpatient’s right to confidentiality, maintain patient autonomy and do justice to patient. Theprinciple of beneficence is related to the action of nurse in promoting well being of people andacting for the best interest of the people (Grace, 2017).Hence, in Sandy’s case, it will beimportant for nurse to first enquire how she got pregnant or find out whether Sandy is vulnerableto child abuse. Knowing about the cause of pregnancy will help Mary to know whether she wasengage in consensual sex or she was molested or raped by someone. If she was engage inconsensual sex, then Mary could proceed with normal nursing care actions needed in thissituation such as performing pregnancy tests to confirm Sandy’s pregnancy, verifying thepossibility of abortion or taking patient’s consent regarding the next course of action. This actionis relevant according to section 6 of theConsent to Medical Treatment and Palliative CareAct 1995(SA) which states that a young individual of 16 years or above may take his decisions

3Running head: LEGAL AND PROFESSIONAL ISSUES IN NURSING about the medical treatment that has been proposed by the nurses or the doctors as an adult inSouth Australia. The National Framework for Protecting Australia's Children 2009-2020work on the ultimate objective of providing proper protection and care to young girls inAustralia's to reduce the occurrence of child abuse Costa et al., 2015). However, if Mary learns about forced sex, then Mary will have to balance the patient’sright to confidentiality as well as protect her from future harm (Tobiano et al., 2015). The actionto protect patient’s confidentiality is also relevant with Medicare Policy. According to theMedicare Policy, a young person or a child belonging to any age group who has his or herMedicare card, the medical information will not be shared to anyone without the consent of thepatient. But if the child belongs to an age of 14 or 15, the medical information will not disclosedto the parents or guardians of the patient, but it can be shared if the parents request MedicareAustralia to provide the medical information of their children (Harner, 2016). In addition, tomaintain best interest of patient, the nurse should provide proper counseling to Sandy to ensurethat she has not been a victim of child abuse. This is also legally binding for her according to theChild Care and Protection Act as it mentions controlling a child if he/she is displaying negativebehavior (Day, 2016).3.The two courses of action that is available to Mary is maintaining patient’sconfidentiality or maintaining beneficence of Sandy during care.As part of ethical code ofconduct in health care practice, a nurse has the duty to maintain confidentiality of all patientsinformation and respect patient’s decision regarding care (Anderson et al., 2015). Therefore, thefirst course of action for Mary might be to listen to Sandy and not disclose about her pregnancyto her mother. The other course of action that can occur in this case is that the nurse practitioner

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