Ethical and Bioethical Issues in Nursing Practice
Dilemmas in ethics during practice and delivery of health care are a serious concern thus the many principles developed to address the situation. Principles such as informed consent, patient autonomy, and advance directives continue to influence and receive numerous attentions from professionals, ethicists, and the public who are the consumers. The principle of patient autonomy can be reconciled with reality of obtaining acceptance or consent on a clinical procedure or situation with deliberations. On the other hand, a Patient anticipates that a reasonable prognosis will be made. An ethical dilemma may be solved by applying the principle of patient autonomy where the patient has a right to choose an option while making a key decision on clinical practices (Pera & Tonder, 2005, p.27).
Informed consent is the principle where the patient has the right to be fully informed on the consequences both benefits and demerits of the treatments that they are about to choose. Ethicists, policy makers, and mainly professionals in the health care sector consider that an informed person is at risk of making wrong decisions. However, in some cases the patient can select someone who will make medical choices for them if they are not in a position to make them. Several ethical and social issues must be considered in contemporary health practices, but the gains of informed consent are linked to those of patient autonomy (Devettere, 1995, p.14).
An advance medical directive is the living will of an individual. In this case, they give instructions for specific clinical procedures or treatments in a situation where they are no longer able to make decisions. It has an advantage that may forbid certain burdensome treatments, which might live the family of the patient in financial burden. The patient may choose to have a general or specific advance medical directive. Various medical scenarios need more than just professional decision but also the patients’ rights and desires to be observed (Byrne, 1996, p.45).
References
Byrne, J. A. (1996). Informed consent. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Devettere, R. J. (1995). Practical Decision Making in HealthCare Ethics: Cases and Concepts.
Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press
Pera, S. A., & Tonder, S. (2005). Ethics In Health Care (2nd Ed.). Lansdowne: Juta Press
