Ethical and Legal Issues Case Study (Essay Sample)

Ethical and Legal Issues Case Study
Student’s name
Institution of learning
Ethical and Legal Issues Case Study
Ethics is a field of study that is concerned with more principles and value. It also states that the fundamental principles that govern the conduct of people. Most of the time individual across all professional finds themselves in the middle of ethical issues (Ferrell, Fraedrich, & Ferrell, 2005). It becomes so hard in many professional to define what is right and what is wrong. Much more dilemma is added when the legal concept is included in given ethical situation. For example, the law may state that a capital sentence is allowed, but ethical issues are always raised on how moral it is killing other humans. In the medical field, heath officers have to follow moral philosophy as a guide in their practise when making decision. It is thus paramount for all heath officers to have a compressive understanding of moral philosophy so as to deal with patient effectively. This paper will state how values influence interpretation of an ethical dilemma, it will also examine the Frank and Ann case study and explain how the nurses would help the family decided on the moral issue at hand using the ethical decision-making process. In addition, it shall identify two journals with the same moral question and describe how they were solved.
Values Influence on Interpretation of an Ethical Dilemma
In many cases, people find themselves in a dilemma on how to interpret an ethical issue with their value influence. Values are those primary acts and matters that people holds dear to themselves; those principles of behaviours that individual uses to judge what is right or wrong. On the other hand, ethical dilemma also known as a moral dilemma is a tight situation in which a decision have to be made between several option, and none of those seem entirely ethically acceptable.
Values are very strong, and each person wants to uphold his/her values. In a situation when a decision has to be made in a complex situation, one is likely to consider his/her value to come up with an appropriate decision (Ferrell, Fraedrich, & Ferrell, 2005). When people are faced with an ethical dilemma, they mostly tend to make a decision based on what they perceive to be the most important. Thus, values play a critical role when it comes to ethical decision-making.
In the case of Frank and Ann, we finds that, when Ann health deteriorates to an extends that she could no longer walk on herself, Frank makes a decision to have her placed in a local nursing home so that she could receive a long-term care facility. Franks had to make a decision based on what he thought was right for her. His decision to place Ann in a nursing home had an ethical dilemma; on one side he was abandoning his promise of taking care of her as he had promised. On the other hand, he wanted what was best for her, and he knew that in a nursing home, she would get better care than on his hand. Frank used his values to decide on the issue. His principle were more on the well-being of Ann more than on the promised made; hence he decided that admission to a nursing home was the best.
Ethical Decision Making Process
Ethical making decision process is a nine-step process that enable individuals and professional to make a decision that is consistency with ethical and moral principles (Ferrell, Fraedrich, & Ferrell, 2005). It involves a nine logical steps which seek to find the best-fit choice in a situation with a moral dilemma. In the case study of Frank and Ann, ethical dilemma arises and thus nurses are required to use ethical decision-making process so as to enable them to help the family in making a proper decision.
The nurses first have to gather all the facts about the case of Frank and Ann (Geppert, 2010). According to their past agreement, it is a fact that both had agreed that they would not put any one of them in a breathing machine. It has also been stated explicitly that that agreement was not put into papers. The nurses thus must understand this situation very carefully. Another thing that they need to know is that, Ann have stop taking as well as eating and thus she need more medical aid so that she can survive.
The ethical issue has to be defined to assist the nurses to make the crucial decision. In the case of Frank and Ann, the moral issue was on past promise concerning individual personal health that Frank should not hook Ann in a breathing machine. The main point is in deciding whether or not a feeding tube device is equivalent to a breathing machine and if so, does use the feeding tube means that Frank violet the past agreement. Additionally, is letting Ann starve to death a murder.
The affected parties need to be identified. In this case, Frank and Ann were the main parties in the ethical dilemma. Frank had promised Ann, not to let her hooked on a breathing machine, and Ann expected Frank to keep his promise. The other affected party is their daughter Sarah, despite having a tight schedule and two children also living 10 hours away, she has to help his father in attending to her mother. Nurses also have to support the family in dealing with the issue, and thus they become part of the affected parties.
The primary consequence that may arise from the issue is the starvation of the patient to death; this may occur if Frank decides that a feeding tube is an equivalent of a breathing machine. The second consequence is the breaking of the promise made between the two parties. The last effect is the legal issue that might arise is any of the decision is taken. The nurses also need to identify the obligations that result from the issue of Frank and Ann. They have to act on the best principle of morality. They must state what is good for Ann and also examine if Ann would have done the same if the patient was Frank. The right of the patient also have to be upheld. Despite that a promise made to Ann is a secondary right to her, her primary right to life and medical care have to be observed and considered. Nurses also have to state what is just; between having Ann put in a feeding tubes or honouring her past promise.
The nurses also have to consider what is said to be an integrity decision by many, a decision that even if it is published in a public domain or a newspaper, everyone will agree on it (Geppert, 2010). Thus, in this case, the doctor must state to the family that letting Ann die may be inhuman while as putting her in a feeding machine may be seen a kind way of treating a patient. The nurses should also shed right to the family about thinking creatively on the potential actions. The first step is letting Ann die of starvation, the second it putting her in a feeding machine. The other thing that nurses should do is letting the family check on their guts, their intuition about what is right and what unethical.
Lastly, the family should be in a position to make a decision on whether to keep the patient in a feeding machine or not. The legal issue involved, in this case, is on the right of the patient. Ann has a right to life as well as the right to better medical care. A decision not to put her in a feeding machine would violate these rights. It is this imperative to put this into consideration when making a decision.
Journal Articles on Ethical Issue
An ethical issue of a man named as Mr H and her daughter in the article entitle “The Ethical Dilemma of DNR Orders in Patients Who Attempt Suicide” best fit the case of Frank and Ann. Mr H, as named in the article, had a history of “chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)” and also was reported to have depression (Geppert, 2010). He had appointed his daughter as his health agent and in his past statement he had indicated to her daughter that he was a Do not resuscitate DNT patient at all time. One morning her daughter found her father unable to speak or follow instructions, he had taken several bottle of morphine in an attempt to commit murder.
He was then taken to the hospital and was placed in an intensive care unit as his case was severe. In a short period, the doctors examined him and realised that he was having difficulty in natural breathing, and hence an artific...