Legal and Ethical Duties of Nurses in Healthcare: Case Study Analysis

This case study examines the legal and ethical duties of nurses, focusing on a scenario involving a retired nurse, Mavis, who is recovering from surgery and displaying aggressive behavior. The analysis explores the responsibilities of nurses in such situations, referencing guidelines from the American Nurses Association and the Nursing Council of New Zealand. It emphasizes the importance of ethical decision-making, patient autonomy, confidentiality, and the use of appropriate medical practices. The study highlights the legal implications of nurses' actions, including the importance of proper training in ethical and legal conduct to avoid potential legal issues. It addresses the challenges nurses face, the significance of continuous learning, and the impact of technological advancements on the nursing profession, ultimately underscoring the need for nurses to balance ethical considerations with legal obligations to ensure optimal patient care and safety.

Legal and Ethical Duties of Nurses
SystemJP
2/5/2020

Case study analysis
Introduction
Nurses are responsible towards many riles during their profession even after the
compulsion of their duty timings they are entitled to response in the case of a patient
emergency. A nurse needs high level of patience for handling a patient, nurse deal the
dressing, medicine, sleeping and all aspects related to the health recovery of patient, but this
is just an outlook one think a nurse do. A nurse do more than the expected from their role,
handling a patients of negative thinking, handling the queries of patients families, motivating
the co-nurses to deal the challenge and most important focus on each and every behavioural,
physical , and other changes in a patient to record the development of the treatment and
issues in the treatment (Geyer, 2016). This essay will discuss importance of legal and ethical
responsibilities and guidelines in the nursing profession and issues nurses deal while
practicing the healthcare practices during their jobs. Nurse face many day-to-day issues with
the patient handling and performing the duties, regular issues with the patient lead stress in
the nurses and many other issues to the job as well. This essay will discuss implication of
nursing ethics and legal duties imposed over the nurse handling Mavis after her operation in
the given case study.
Nurses record all the aspect and maintain it to help the diagnosing doctors to
understand the case of a patient very effectively. Nurses perform their duties in the ethical
and legal guidelines of the hospital; many hospitals have their own legal and ethical
principles and guidelines for the nurses and other staff and many hospitals follow the
guidelines issued by the American Nurses Association to manage effective working of the
health of a patient. A detailed discussion of the case is presented in the essay based on the use
of the ethical and legal guidelines as code of ethics imposed over a nurse caring the patients
in the critical care.
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Case study analysis
Case scenario and analysis
Mavis is a 70 years old retired nurse, she is under diagnosis of a nurse, after a
laparotomy surgery for the acute bowl obstruction, a blocked bowl was located near the area
of intestine and it was unblocked after a surgery, and Mavis was feeling health issues like
changes in the blood pressure and fastens heartbeats with uncontrolled breathing. These all
result the changes in behaviour of Mavis. Mavis was restless and aggrieved by the treatment,
she want to go back to home and join the duty as soon as possible, she was behaving
aggressive with the nursing staff by shouting and restricting them to come near her. Nurses in
such scenario need to deal the situation in the guidelines because continuous aggressive
nature of a patient leads stress and job dissatisfaction among nurses, but nurses’ needs to deal
the patient healthy treatment in the guidelines of the ethical and legal principles of the
nursing profession.
According the scenario many legal and ethical duties are imposed over the nurse, aged
care patient have sudden changes in their mood, Mavis was a retired nurse, she was habitual
of busy schedule in her routine and used to spend time at her job. After surgery, she was in
rest and this lead the issues to her, as long time to the job and living like a patient made her
aggressive and impatience towards others (Ashton, 2016). According the guidelines of
American Nursing Association, nurses are bound to practice their profession according to a
multifaceted network of the federal and state legal statutes while they are talking any decision
it need to be taken in the ethical manner by focusing the implication of legal provisions over
their decisions. Nurses are legally responsible for the decisions they take in the ethical
manner towards the patient and the entire hospital system. Due to high pressure in the
emergency, a registered nurse is most liable for the decisions made for the life of a patient.
While taking any decisions or handling any critical conditions in the nursing practice, a nurse
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Case study analysis
needs to make balance between the ethical and legal implication of their decision (Burchum
& Rosenthal, 2019).
A patient has legal right to take legal action against a nurse of any decisions causes
harm to the patient, and nurses are required to clarify the reason for the decision in the legal
proceeding. To avoid the legal imposed issues guidelines to train the nurses in the detailed
course of ethical and legal behaviour is essential for the nurses, these guidelines helps nurses
and suggest them many solutions to solve the issues related to the patient handling
(Dickinson, Taylor, & Anton, 2018).
According the AMA “Nurses work to defend, guard, and protect patients' health, well-
being, and moralities.” Long or short-term nurses are engaged in the patient care, they handle
mood swing disorders of the patient, hence feel disappointed and stressed, but nurses need to
consider the health of patients on the priority. According to the nursing council of New
Zealand, profession of nursing is an organised and regulated profession by the self-code of
conducts of the nurses (Zydziunaite, 2013). A nurse pledge in the training to serve the
patient’s health on the first priority and they develop skills to manage the decision-making
ethics by focusing the need of the patients and identification, how their decisions will affect
the patient health (Geyer, 2016). A registered nurse is a person, who is able to use critical
thinking and decision-making in the practice of critical and long-term patient handling.
Registered nurses have enough experience about the judgement of the critical issues and
decisions supporting the critical health issues of a patient hence they have enough
understanding about the legal duties directly and indirectly imposed over a nurse during the
critical decisions and challenging situation of the patients. Legal duties applied on the nurses
are about the patient’s safety, security, confidentiality, and effective impartial behaviour with
the patients (Weiss, 2019).
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Case study analysis
A patient and nurse share bond of faith and trust, a patient in the long-term critical
care spend major of time with the nurse, and nurses are the only link to connect a patient with
the family and a key player to motivate a patient towards the treatment (Hsu & Chen, 2018).
Managing these activities require some legal dilemma in the nursing as recording the
patient’s personal information in confidential manner and nurses are responsible to secure the
patient’s confidential information, leakage of personal information may cause legal issues to
a nurse (Jacobs, 2016). Use of right medicine and equipment for the patient care, and
assisting the follower staff with high accuracy about the patient’s health and issue any wrong
information or lack of information may cause issues to the patients’ health and nurses are
legally responsible for that (Nabirye, Brown, Pryor, & Maples, 2011).
Some of the qualities nurses need to include in their profession are alternativeness,
responsible behaviour, competency, responsive, and autonomy as the most important to meet
the requirement of effective registered nurses perform duties in the legal and ethical manner
(Farag, 2017). Many development and changes are developing in the field of nursing and
health care as it Electronic machine record, medical guidance software, patient lifting and
moving machines, and many more to make the nursing profession more easy and effective
serving to the patients and burses both (Nabirye, Brown, Pryor, & Maples, 2011). This
development had solved many issues but on the other hand, these changes have raised the
level of issues in the decisions, judgement, and critical patient handling activities in the
healthcare. After these developments, role of ethics and moral duties in the is not changed,
nurses need to manage activities in the code of ethics as it alternativeness of a nurse demands
handling of a patient’s family in well manner and keep updating them about the true situation
of their patients under the supervision of resident doctors (Giddens, 2018). Delivery of wrong
information to the patient’s family may cause legal issues of fraud to the nurses, hence they
are assumed to deliver the authentic and valid information to the doctors and patients both.
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Case study analysis
Responsible behaviour towards decision-making activities in the regular nursing
practice guides nurses to investigate the case of patient very serious, either nurse are
experienced but all patients are not same (McKibben, 2017). Hence nurses are strictly guide
by the doctors and seniors to look well into the matter before planning to take any step for the
patients. Self-dependency in the nurses as autonomy is very important to deliver proper
decisions for the development of health in a patient. nursing profession is not a perfectly
finished profession but it is a profession of learning until the last stage, hence it require a
nurse updated with the latest inventions in the medicines, development in the technologies,
and researches for the patients welfare (Smith & Roberts, 2015). Nursing and medical sector
never remain depending over same concept but it keeps investigating to the new methods to
cure the treatment fast (Mahnaz, Shahin, & Shahdoust, 2019). A fast and updated nurse with
the latest innovation help the doctors and seniors to take fast action in the critical care and
nurse is able to make decision very quickly (Lehner, 2012).
Nurse in the given case study is in highly challenging situations, as Mavis rejected her
nurse to treat and dress up her properly, she bleeding from the body and half-naked from the
upper part. Nurse took her in room to save her from other patients, and tried to dress-up her
by washing her boy, but clear rejection out the nurse in trouble and she is bound by the code
of ethics to treat Mavis properly even if she behave improper. Some ethical questions applied
in this situation over the nurse will help her to take the care cessions very well and soon
(Choi & Emily, 2016).
The decision of properly dressing up Mavis, cleaning her body from the blood, and
making her calm for the treatment is important and in favour of Mavis. first criteria of an
ethical and legal decisions falls in the patient autonomy and welfare, if nurse avoid dressing
of the patient, it can cause her high blood loss which can lead death to the patient. Nurse here
need to take immediate action to save the life of Mavis (Weiss, 2019). This decision is in the
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Case study analysis
benefit of Mavis, a proper communication motivating her to reduce the stress of the treatment
and treating her like a registered nurse will help the nurse to meet the health development of
Mavis.
Conclusion
Nurses have regular contact with the patients and their families as well and with the
doctors treating the patient with the assisted staff, in short nurse are the most depending and
responsible post in a hospital hence they have high responsibility to deliver their best to each
aspect relating to them. Simultaneously they also work in the great threat of mistaking and
potential to face legal issues due to their decision towards the patients. Working in the proper
guidelines of hospital’s code of ethics or guidance of American Nurses Association, helps
nurse to work in manner without challenges. Dealing the legal challenges with the nursing
affect the nurses and lead job dissatisfaction to them, hence proper training of the ethical and
legal issues in the nursing is important to provide to the nurses on regular basis. Training and
development motivates the nurses and train them to handle the critical challenges with
effective decision-making techniques.
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Case study analysis
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Case study analysis
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