Running head: AN ESSAY ON ETHICAL AND LEGAL ISSUES IN NURSING 1

Ethical and Legal Issues in Nursing

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AN ESSAY ON ETHICAL AND LEGAL ISSUES IN NURSING 2

INTRODUCTION.

Nursing as a career requires more than the course work and certificates to understand

fully, ( American Short-horn Herd Book .., 1884, p. 13) Besides the academic work and

extensive tests that are needed into becoming a nurse there is also need for training to

understand the ethical and legal implications of actions involved in the field, (Dye, 1975,

p. 45) Ethics refers to the standards of professional conduct and moral judgment. Ethics are

put in place to foster high standards of work.Nurses have several duties to their patients

which include nonmalefience which frefers to doing no harm to the patient, (Burston &

Tuckett, 2012, p. 312). Other responsibilities include fidelity,veracity,beneficdence and

justice. The main focus of nursing as a career includes illness treatment and prevention and

also easing pain. Besides, the code of ethics states that respect for human life must be part of

the job, (Park, Kjervik, Crandell, & Oermann, 2012, p. 568)

Legal issues, on the other hand, refer to the law, which is a set of rules that regulate

nurses conduct or behaviors, (Glasgow, Michael Dreher, & Oxholm, 2012, p. 56). There are

many bodies that stipulate the requirements which nurse must abide by. They include state and

federal laws, polices determined by the employer, and the national regulatory boards such as

the national council of state regulatory boards of nursing. The ethics and legal issues in nursing

as a profession, are considered as the code of ethics and standard of practice that govern the

profession. Nurses need to fully know their duties and contents and incorporate them as a

framework for their professional work, (Matt, 2012, p. 9-13).

According to Nicholson (2012), “Nonprofessionals cannot be held to the standards of

the medical professions persons who have specially trained, educated and licensed and are

accountable for performance that deviates from customs of their field.” Therefore a well trained

and competent nurse is the one who is fully aware of their moral standards and professional

values and will make wise decisions in their practice maintaining their professionalism,
AN ESSAY ON ETHICAL AND LEGAL ISSUES IN NURSING 3

integrity and putting the needs of the patient at mind.Nursing career just like other proffessions

has its own share of ethical and leagal dilemmas. One of the major professional requirements

in this career is the intergreation of prffessional values and leagal factors in healthcare into the

nursing career, (Holmes, 2002, p. 65-90).

Knowledge of the dilemmas nurse face and how to successfully overcome them is

important. Nurses should also know what malpractice is and how they should protect

themselves from the lawsuit, (Anderson, Malone, Shanahan, & Manning, 2014, p. 662-671). A

nurse is therefore expected to make ethical decisions, and this will be systematically based on

the moral and legal principles. This essay will, therefore, examine the ethical and legal issues

experienced in the nursing career, basing the argument on the scenario involving the ethical

and legal issues. The main goal as a nurse is to advocate for the patient and ensure the treatment,

(Keleher & Parker, 2013, p. 215-221).

A CASE SCENARIO.

On a busy morning in a surgical ward, a retired nurse, 70yers old underwent a

laparotomy chronic bowel obstruction. Sje had hervital signs altered which lead to increase in

er heart rate toa bpm of 92, with a temperature of 38c and a blood pressure of 105/70.

Checking her vital signs, she is seems to be anxious, disoriented and confused. This differs

from her previous less than an hour results when she was attended to. Since she is has to go

back to work, her only option is to inform the nurse that she need to go home since she

looked quite fine.

The nurse then decides to review the medication to determine if they had in any way

lead to the behavior and shift coordinator is given the results. Mavis is no longer there when

the nurse comes back to the room, and she has to look for her and she finally sees her in the

vistor’s room. Her gown is open from front to back on closer view and the would site dressing
AN ESSAY ON ETHICAL AND LEGAL ISSUES IN NURSING 4

isalready detached. Her surgical wound and abdomen is smeared with feaces . the insertion

site is already bleeding and the IV cannula is removed.

Immediately, the door is closedby the nurse to offer her privacy and cover her. Mavis rejects

any attempt by the nurse as she tries persuading her to wash her self in the bathroom. Mavis

Mavis continues demanding that no one touches her and that she oughts to go back home so

that she is not late for work.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ETHICS AND LAW.

Based on the scenario above there are some ethical issues that were violated. The

responsibility of nurses is to identify the ethical issues that are affecting their patients and

take the necessary actions, (Green, 2012, p. 3). These practices should always be guided by

the law. The law should be observed in all cases including whenever implementing a new

policy or method. Nursing is thought to be one of the fulfilling careers in the world. However

this profession is faced with challenges and commonly the ethical dilemmas on a day to day

basis.

According to the passage above, it's clear that some of the ethics were violated by the

nurse. The nurse tried to act against the freedom of the patient by denying her the leave she

wanted to go home. This is displayed as one of the most common ethical dilemmas the nurses

encounter in their careers. The code of ethics contains the right to choice and cultural ethics.

Theis two give the patient the right to reject any medical advice given by the nurse. Being one

of the professions with highly experienced and educated personnels profound to tackling any

action, if a patient refuses any medical advice it doesn’t always mean they will comply with it.

It is considered unethical to deny patient's requests because the patient may seem

dramatic even I this accusation is true. The nurse denied Mavis her request to go home

because she thought that Mavis had received medication that resulted in the portrayed

behavior. By doing this the nurse violated one provision of one of the codes. According to the
AN ESSAY ON ETHICAL AND LEGAL ISSUES IN NURSING 5

( “Nursing world,”2010), a nurse is accountable and will be responsible for his/her nursing

practice, and the appropriate delegation of duties that are in conjunction with the nurses

obligation will be determined to ensure provision of optimum care to the patient.

These ethical problems are some of the most common challenges the nurses face in

their profession because their naturally sensitive nature. They require adherence to rules and

sound judgment that are not always as clear cut as laws. Ethical issues are mostly

encountered due to delicacy of patient-caregiver relations. In this case Mavis wanted to go

home before she was adequately recovered in her wounds. The nurse wanted to practice her

profession diligently by evaluating if the behavior had resulted from the medication she was

given. This, in turn, went against the patient's rights of demanding leave, and she exhibited

rebellious cats to the extent of pushing the nurse away and smearing faces on her wound.

Ethical problems in the nursing career often arise in nurses who care for the patients.

Communication is essential in promoting good relation between the nurse and patient. In this

case, the nurse should have communicated well with the patient to ensure she understands

what the patient was going through and why she wanted to go home. This would help to

prevent the confrontation and the frustration of Mavis, who wished the nurse to leave. The

principle of ethics is shown not by the words but usually b the actions of the nurses. By

examining the rationale behind the potential unethical decisions one can start putting their

won moral values within the context

the situation at hand. This could be seen when the nurse concludes that the medication

administered to Mavis was the cause of the behavior she was exhibiting.

In this scenario, the ethical dilemma is seen when the nurse denied giving the patient

leave nut further going to examine the medication to determine the cause of the observed

behavior. The nurse decided to analyze the drug concerning the consequences seen in mavis.

Therefore by dismissing other extraneous variables the nurse chose to focus on the known
AN ESSAY ON ETHICAL AND LEGAL ISSUES IN NURSING 6

ethical codes and analysed the possibilities without any bias. A nurse should be able to make

any decision on the patient's well being, feelings, perceptions, and rights without upsetting

the therapeutic relationship, and the aspects in the decision process should be diligently

clarified.

The logic of ethical reasoning in the function of nursing is to ensure provision of

quality care to the patient. This reasoning supports the practice of nursing while defining the

nursing profession as a whole. Besides in order to make any decision concerning patient well

being, one should weigh the ethical outcomes and challenges . in order to prevent

confrontations between the patient the nurse should have been supportive and go on to

ascertain the useful information which would have assisted in calming the patient down to

ensure she is given proper treatment til recovery without asking for leave.

Interview and the standard medical evaluation is essential in picking the useful

information required for the narrative. This would help in gaining in-depth knowledge and

understanding of the patient ad also provide insight into how the patient was feeling in

discussing their issues and the possible solutions. Acknowledging the suffering of the patient

and discussing their feelings about various medications, their experience so far in the hospital

would also be an essential approach. In the end the patient may be more receptive and calm

down enabling a treatment approach that will be of help to her.

Highest standards based on legal and ethical framework should be practiced in

nursing. The nurse is required to practice and maintain standards of proffesion conduct and

personal conduct which bwill be a reflective of the public confidence and profession at large.

The judgement and perception in the healthcare sector as well as the right of the patient are

key elements in the nursing practice. Decision making should be made in regaards to the

patient best of interest. In this case the nurse should have coomunicated effectively with the
AN ESSAY ON ETHICAL AND LEGAL ISSUES IN NURSING 7

patient and take the decision with the best interest of the patient. This would have avoided the

unnecessary confrontation between her and Mavis.

Proffessions in the healthcare sector are required to have enough knowledge in the

ethics and legal requirements so as to provide optimum patient care. They should asso be

aware of the current national and state legistaltion ,the guidelines and actions as well as the

consequences of this nursing practice. Regardless of the situation a nurse has a set standard

that has to be followed. These usually include the nonnegotiable ,responsibilities,ethical

satndards and obligations that one swears to abide when starting the nursing career.

Unrelenting patience is important in serving patients bests interests.

CONCLUSION.

In conclusion, the ethical and legal issues are most common in health care industry

and, most importantly in nursing sector because they often have connections with the patients

in their line of duty. These professional legal laws and ethical codes regulates the behaviour

of professionals and this does not necessarily need any knowledgeability or education of the r

person decision risks that are made concerning the patient. Therefore, the nurses should

betaken through in ethics and legal issues learning about within their profession to enhance

the provision of excellent services and prevent mistakes from occurring. Ethical problems

awareness requires the knowledge of the rational actions that should be taken in particular

scenarios as well as adhering to the principles guiding these actions.

The nursing practice is influenced by many factors such as professional,personal and

cultural aspects. Their primary focus is to promote good health, prevent illnesses,act in the

best interests of the patient,remove the suffering the patient is undergoing and provide these

services not only to the individual but also to the family and the community at large. This

then shows as demonstrated by this outline on ethical and legal issues that the decision-

making process in the nursing career can be extremely complex and involving.
AN ESSAY ON ETHICAL AND LEGAL ISSUES IN NURSING 8

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