NR439 Week 4 Discussion, Ethical and Legal Issues

NR439 Week 4 Discussion, Ethical and Legal Issues An ethical responsibility is acting about principles and values that according to given standards within a field. “Ethical responsibilities are mandates that are clearly spelled out in the NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct….It can be helpful to think of ethical responsibilities as being very similar to legal responsibilities” (Feeney & Freeman 2016). An ethical dilemma is a situation where a choice needs to be made between two choices, but neither choice solves the dilemma. “Ethical dilemmas are sometimes described as situations that involve two ‘rights’” (Feeney & Freeman 2016). In my field of nursing I feel that we see ethical dilemmas almost every day. Being an oncology nurse, we are forced to help guide patients with end of life decisions. These patients and families need to choose between two or more morally accepted options. These discussions never leave everyone happy or accepting of decisions. We see this a lot when patient who are dying of cancer want to stop treatment and die and dignity, but the family doesn’t want them to give up and keep pushing them to complete another round of chemo. If a patient decides to pass at home, they must make decisions of what kind of end of life care they want. “To accomplish the patients desire of a peaceful death at home, health care providers should have adequate communication skills, provide home care programs with referral systems” ( Hu, Yao, Chen & Chiu 2009). This means that health care providers need to inform the patient about, for example, artificial nutrition or hydration vs not having it, and the patient needs to make such decision. In the oncology field, I feel that given diagnosis and outcomes, the patient can never make a right or wrong decisions, and we as healthcare professionals need to provide all the information possible so the patient can make a decision they are comfortable with. Feeney, S., & Freeman, N. K. (2016). Ethical Issues Responsibilities and Dilemmas. YC: Young Children, 71(1), 86-89. Hu, W., Yao, C., CHEN, C., & CHIU, T. (n.d). Prevailing Ethical Dilemmas in Terminal Care for Patients With Cancer in Taiwan. Journal Of Clinical Oncology, 27(24), .