Applying Ethical Frameworks in Practice
Ruth A. Whitehead
Grand Canyon University: NRS-437V
06/28/2015
Applying Ethical Frameworks in Practice
In nursing, certain situations will have you questions what is right and what is wrong. Nurses come across ethical dilemmas daily. One dilemma that we come across is parents withholding medical care from their children for religious reasons. Do we step in a say something or do we follow the parents’ wishes and do nothing. When nurses are faced with an ethical dilemma, it can be difficult not to become emotional. There are five ethical principles that can help nurses make ethical decisions. The five principles include nonmaleficence, to protect the patient’s safety, avoiding harm or hurt, beneficence: taking action to help others, doing the most good, autonomy: allowing the patient to make decisions about treatment, justice: treating each patient fairly and equally, and privacy and confidentiality: the right to control personal information. (Silva, 1999)A nurse should use the five ethical principles when approaching an ethical dilemma.
In this scenario, the ethical dilemma that is presented is the mother’s religious beliefs of no medical treatment for her six-year-old son that is brought into the emergency room with a high fever, vomiting and having convulsions. Using the cognitive decision making model, (37071: Ethical Decision Making, 2014) I would first find out who is involved and all the information about the problem. In this situation, you have the family, nurses, doctors and the patient. The problem is that the patient needs medical treatment and the mother does not believe in this and the father wants medical treatment for his child. The doctor has diagnoses the patient with meningitis, which without treatment can lead to long-term seizures, brain damage, hearing loss and being disabled. (Bacterial Meningitis)Then you look at your values and ethical position. The patient could have...