Nursing Dilemma: Ethical Considerations and Solutions in Healthcare

This report addresses a common nursing dilemma concerning terminally ill patients and their suicidal tendencies. It explores the ethical considerations involved, particularly the conflict between patient autonomy and the principle of non-maleficence. The report examines how healthcare ethics, including beneficence and justice, can guide nurses in making appropriate decisions. The author emphasizes the importance of understanding and applying ethical principles to resolve such dilemmas, advocating for counseling and support to change a patient's mind regarding suicide. The report concludes that a strong grasp of healthcare ethics is crucial for nurses to navigate complex situations and provide the best possible care, providing a framework for ethical decision-making in nursing practice and patient care.

Running head: EXAMINING A NURSING DILEMMA
EXAMINING A NURSING DILEMMA
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1EXAMINING A NURSING DILEMMA
The problems related to healthcare dilemma is very common in the nursing practice.
An issue is seen amongst terminally ill patients that they tend to get suicidal because they
do not have the will to live, which makes them attempt suicide. When considering this problem,
mainly two of the four healthcare ethics present the dilemma for a nursing staff (Runciman,
Merry & Walton, 2017). The ethics of autonomy, expects a nursing staff to respect the patient’s
wishes, which means as per this ethics, a nurse is supposed to respect the patient’s decision of
ending his or her life prematurely. After that, the ethics of non-maleficence expects a nursing
staff to do no harm to the patient, whether intentionally or un-intentionally. As per this ethics, the
nurse is not allowed to let the patient attempt suicide, since that is an obvious act of harm to the
physical health of the patient. Now, in this situation, a nursing staff must be able to make a
proper decision that would be most appropriate in this situation (Leuter et al., 2013). The
problem can be solved by applying the other ethics into consideration, such as beneficence and
justice. As per the ethics of beneficence the nursing staff to do only good to the patients.
Supporting a patient in their intention of accepting a premature death is against this ethics. The
ethics of justice advice against this course of action also in most cases. Thus in this case, the
nursing staff should try to change the patient’s mind by proper counselling about the
commitment of suicide.
Hence, it can be concluded that to solve the very common instances of nursing dilemma,
a proper understanding of the healthcare ethics is necessary.

2EXAMINING A NURSING DILEMMA
References:
Leuter, C., Petrucci, C., Mattei, A., Tabassi, G., & Lancia, L. (2013). Ethical difficulties in
nursing, educational needs and attitudes about using ethics resources. Nursing
ethics, 20(3), 348-358.
Runciman, B., Merry, A., & Walton, M. (2017). Safety and ethics in healthcare: a guide to
getting it right. CRC Press.