Healthcare law and Ethics

Healthcare law and Ethics

Introduction

1. Narrative of the Situation

It is a health centre; man suffering from terminal esophageal cancer .because he does not understand English her wife has been accompanying him to a hospital for treatment and translates everything taught in a hospital. Now at this time his wife is not explaining everything. She hides some information about the seriousness of Mr. Nunez s condition. She claims she does this because she does not want her husband to know that he is dying of cancer. She cheats him that he instead has a growth on his esophagus but no cancer. Mr. Nunez has been recently enrolled to phase I cancer research protocol, consent for which his wife has given him. This lady is adamant that her husband not to be told about his diagnosis or prognosis. She knows that if the man finds the truth, he will do violence to himself and her.

Despite being told that patients benefit from knowing their condition, she insists that nothing can be gained even by telling him the truth she cited an incidence whereby the patient claimed that if he finds a health is more than he thought he would harm himself. She says that even when he becomes weaker, she says there is no reason to believe that he could not comprehend the nature and seriousness of his condition .his cognitive status cannot be confirmed, however, because Mrs. Nunez has forbidden a psychiatric evaluation. Members of the care team have conflicted about the limits on their ability to interact with Mr. Nunez .Several firmly believe that he is being deprived of his rights to information, while others suggest that his wife knows him better than they do.

1. Identification of major players and key decision makers

Mr. Nunez is the main character here he is very sick suffering from esophageal cancer when he attends a health centre to seek medication he is accompanied by his wife .Mr. Nunez does not understand English and he could not be able to communicate with care providers in the hospital.

We learn that he has been assisted by his wife for the last nine months when such situation happens. The wife has an advantage of being bilingual. She can understand English as well as speaking it apart from her native language Mr. Nunez is a bad tempered person and for real he could not be happy to be told that he is suffering from cancer.  Resulting in some violence; he could either harm himself or his wife. This man was provided with wrong information by the wife, who decided to lie to hem that he is suffering from esophageal growth. The husbands seem to believe everything the woman tells him. Now that he cannot communicate in English we can say that he will just talk to his wife what he wants from the caregivers in the hospital.

The major players here we have one Mrs. Nunez she is responsible for her husband she accompanied her husband to the hospital, the way he has been doing for the last nine months, she understands English and will be passing a message to her husband by interpreting g what the health care speaks. Instead of giving the correct information she decides to give the wrong information. This was done to free herself room violence since her husband could even harm the moment he understands the truth. We can say that this lady was a major decision maker in the case study, this is because we find out she can fake the health status of her husband. She does not allow the health officers in the hospital to tell the patient condition though it is important. The patients’ wife has made a wrong decision which brought confusion to the caregivers though others belie she understand her husband well.

Members of the care team is  involved in  decision making since what they are going to do will determine whether the patient will survive or die. Are conflicted about the limits on their ability to interact with Mr. Nunez. Several firmly believe that he is being deprived of his rights to information, while others suggest that his wife knows him better than they do.

• Sources of conflict

Mr. Nunez is the one involved in the heart of the conflict since he does not know for real what kind of sickness he is facing he even fear of the report from the caregivers he dares if the condition result be bad he can even harm himself, the wife and the care givers are the have different responsibilities to play here , for instance, the wife has to translate the information from the caregivers .Also, the care providers have the duty to give the best services to the patient, but they are not able to carry out their external roles because they are in a conflict. There is real need for ethical issues here there should be transparency, and the wife is supposed to speak the truth.

The source of conflict is the information given to the health caregivers that Mr. Nunez the patient should not be told any right information that he is suffering from cancer, she said he might result to be violent and even harm himself.   The caregivers have different stands on the issue at hand some wanted to provide the information to the patient because according to the law patient should be given their health information .while the other group just believed that his wife knows him better.

1. Additional information /research

From other related research if learned that .There should be ethical concepts in health centers setting when handling a patient. Patient’s rights should be respected and necessary assistance provided in time.

1. Key ethical concepts involved

From my additional research it come to my understanding that, The nurse gives justice to all clients are given fair treatment there s no favor taking patients needs to consideration. The health caregivers are dedicated, loyal, truthful and show advocacy to the patients .based on the virtue of caring. The issue of paternalism the nurse may decide to withhold the information from family members is discouraged.

1. Action plan to resolve

I recommend that the best procedure should be followed in handling the patient this would move situation towards some constructive resolution. The principle of totality and integrations which shows that the individual should be included when deciding therapies, medication a patient should undergo.

• Role of influencers

Influencers can change ones decision toward either positive or negative direction. For instance an influence in the case here is the wife of Mr. Nunuz who has totally influenced the decision of the care givers when handling her sick husband .This might result to bad situation for the patient. Influencers can also lead to misunderstanding and conflicts in the society as evident from what the care givers did after being forbidden to inform the patient about his health condition.

• Questions and conclusions

Should information was given by one’s family or relative be used to change the nurse decision when handling a patient? The organization should and serve the patients without considering any information from the household. In conclusion, we can see one area that needs ethical issues intergraded in its services is the health care centers. The patient, nurses, health centre, attends and family should show ethics.

References

Furrow, B. R., Stoltzfus Jost, T., Johnson, S. H., & Schwartz, R. (1991). Bioethics: Health Case Law and Ethics.

Jansen, J. P., Fleurence, R., Devine, B., Itzler, R., Barrett, A., Hawkins, N., … & Cappelleri, J. C. (2011). Interpreting indirect treatment comparisons and network meta-analysis for health-care decision making: report of the ISPOR Task Force on Indirect Treatment Comparisons Good Research Practices: part 1. Value in Health, 14(4), 417-428..

Jonsen, A. R., Siegler, M., & Winslade, W. J. (1982). Clinical ethics a practical approach to ethical decisions in clinical medicine.

Rogers, A. E., Hwang, W. T., Scott, L. D., Aiken, L. H., & Dinges, D. F. (2004). The working hours of hospital staff nurses and patient safety. Health affairs, 23(4), 202-212.