In the case of the elderly woman suffering from terminal breast cancer, a primary nurse could apply three clinical ethical principles. The principles, which would ensure that her issue is addressed efficiently, include; respect for autonomy, beneficence, and nonmaleficence (American Psychiatric Association, 2001). The principle of respect for anatomy is concerned about an individual’s making decision on what should happen to his or her body. A patient may wish to discontinue treatment or accept medical care depending on his or her decisions based on personality, religion and other rationales (Raines, 2000). Therefore, all medical personnel involved should respect the free and rational decisions that the patient makes.
For the case of the elderly woman, the primary nurse should respect the decision to stop her treatment despite that, it may lead to lethal consequences on her. The principle of beneficence indicates that, the clinical officers should have interests of patients at heart. They should always provide quality care where each case should be considered individually. In this case, the medical attention given to the woman should rather be individual than being handled as common to other terminal breast cancer cases. The primary nurse should respect the principle and consider her case as unique and different from other terminal breast cancer cases to ensure that she receives proper medication.
The principle of non-maleficence, on the other hand, refers to the situation where a clinical officer is not expected to cause harm to patients (Clayton, 2003). However, it is exceptional in the case of double effects, where a treatment administered with proper intentions causes harm. In the case of the elderly woman, the principle nurse may have administered the treatment, and if double effect occurred, he or she ought to make the patient understand the situation to calm down. In this case, educating the woman would help her understand the situation. She would, therefore, continue or discontinue the treatment.
References
American Psychiatric Association. (2001). The principles of medical ethics: With annotations especially applicable to psychiatry. Amer Psychiatric Pub Incorporated.
Raines, M. L. (2000). Ethical decision making in nurses: relationships among moral reasoning, coping style, and ethics stress. JONA'S healthcare law, ethics and regulation, 2(1), 29-hyhen.
Clayton, E. W. (2003). Ethical, legal, and social implications of genomic medicine. New England Journal of Medicine, 349(6), 562-569.
