Ethical dilemma Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ethical dilemma - bear witness ExampleHowever, a nurses past experiences, values, and beliefs may influence this solution. In addition, one honest dilemma arse be solved in a variety of ways. In this paper, I go away give a case of an ethical dilemma in nursing, and discuss how this can be unyielding using the 2009 Ethical Decision-making algorithmic rule by Catalano. Ethical issues vary and may involve legal issues, pro-life issues, deception versus truth telling, quantity versus quality of life, control versus freedom, among others. A nurse will react differently to each of these ethical dilemmas (Lipe & Beasley, 2003). My case of ethical dilemma is a pro-life versus pro-choice situation, experienced nigh time ago by a friend who is a practicing nurse. This involved a fifty-year old adult female in the ICU. She had been in the ICU for over one year, and shows no probability of getting better instead, she gets worse each day. The diligent wants her life to be terminated t o save her the pain. However, her family does not agree with her wish, and advise the nurses to control her. She undergoes multiple painful surgeries for her sustenance. The hospital knows that if they extracted her life, it will be of low quality and full of pain. They moreover cannot perform anesthesia on her as the family threatened to sue the hospital if they took that step. On the other hand, the enduring is bitter that her wish of ending her life has not been granted. This is a perfect example of an ethical dilemma. every(prenominal) the parties involved express different wishes and interests. The patient wants her life terminated to escape the pain her family wants the nurse to prolong her life, while the nurse wants to save her patient much pain by performing mercy killing. distributively party faces obstacles in fulfilling their desires. The patients family is the main obstacle as they threaten the nurse with suing if she terminates the patients life. Now, the nurse i s to come up with a conclusiveness that will be neutral on side of the patient as well as that of her family. If the nurse prolongs the patients life, she will be prolonging her suffering, thus causing her harm. On the other hand, if the nurse complies with her patients wish, she may get in trouble with the patients family, and so cause a strained relationship, which sounds unethical. Catalinos ethical decision-making algorithm would have come in handy in directing the nurse to the most appropriate decision (Denier et al., 2010). According to Catalinos ethical decision-making algorithm, decision-making starts with assessment. This involves determining the party that will be most affected by the decision. Enough facts, including the potential risks of the patient, ar gathered to arrive at this. The second step is to collect, analyze and study data. Here, the nurse makes use of the information they have to determine possible outcomes. Thirdly, the dilemma is place and stated. In t his case, the identified dilemma is to grant the patient her wish or to listen to her family (Deshpande, 2009). Next is to decide if the nurse can resolve the dilemma or not. If no, the nurse should not take any action, if yes, the possible solutions to the dilemma should be stated. Acceptable and unacceptable consequences are then identified. If the consequences are acceptable, an ethical decision can be taken, if they are unacceptable, no action is to be taken. If ethical decision is