Preview

Nur 391 Ethical And Legal Issues In Nursing Paper

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
901 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Nur 391 Ethical And Legal Issues In Nursing Paper
Ethical and Legal Issues in Nursing
Karen Scroggins
NUR/391
November11, 2013
Joy Brock MSN, RN, FNP
Ethical and Legal Issues in Nursing
Nurses today face many challenges related to ethical and legal issues. The American Nurses Association Code of Nursing Ethics is a guideline for nurses to use when facing these issues. Personal and societal values will also influence nurses faced with these issues. If nurses adhere to the Code of Ethics even though personal or societal values may be in conflict, they will not have to worry about legal issues pertaining to the care given.
Marianne
A final decision in Marianne’s case requires many considerations. Compassion, respect, and Marianne’s rights must be the focus. “The nurse
…show more content…
175) is third provision of the American Nurses Association Code of Ethics for Nurses. Personal or societal values influencing the husband, children or health team must be clarified so the family and team can be empathetic, aware, and insightful. (Chitty & Black, 2011, p. 51).
It is evident that Marianne’s husband values life because of the fact that he “wants to try everything” (Blais & Hayes, 2011, p. 175). The children; however, seem to value the quality of life. They do not want to risk surgery if it does not offer body and mind functionality. Marianne’s husband may be in denial about the condition of his wife as well as being in shock because of the suddenness of the accident. The conflicting opinions of Marianne’s family will need to be addressed and further explored with the ethics committee before a final decision can be made. It is the health team’s responsibility to understand the family’s values, opinions, and desires for Marianne when preparing for the meeting to discuss her future care. The team must also understand any values or opinions they may bring to the situation at hand. Unlike the
…show more content…
In fact, Murphy states, “The only hard and fast rule is to tell the truth” (Murphy, 2005, p. 855). The nurse does need to provide any additional information beyond what is asked directly. This nurse did what was required by law and went further to ensure the codes of ethics were adhered to.
As discussed, nurses face many challenges related to ethical and legal issues. The American Nurses Association Code of Nursing Ethics is the best guideline for nurses to use when facing these issues. Personal and societal values will also influence nurses faced with these issues but if nurses adhere to the Code of Ethics even though personal or societal values may be in conflict, they will not have to worry about legal issues pertaining to the care

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    First, there is the Code of Ethics of the American Nurses Association (ANA), which had been the ethical framework with which the nursing practice in the United States relies on (Wood, 2014). It governs the ethical behavior of its nurse members in various nursing specialties. The NSS can refer to the Code as a standard for nursing ethical behavior.…

    • 771 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    References: American Nurses Association. (2013). Retrieved from Code of ethics for nurses with interpretive statements: http://nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/EthicsStandards/CodeofEthicsforNurses/Code-of-Ethics.pdf…

    • 913 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    ANA Document Analysis

    • 515 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Nurses are provided guidelines for how to approach the care of patients in the American Nurses Association Code of Ethics, but they are just that, guidelines. It is simply a map to help navigate some of the more difficult decisions that are necessary for a nurse to make. Ethics, in nursing, is based on individual interpretation. A person’s values shape their individual approaches to patients and patient care. The ANA document does not tell or indicate what is an absolute right or wrong. Each and every nurse has to make those decisions individually. Ethical knowledge and guidelines help a nurse maneuver through personal/professional relationships, to give safe and ethical care in an ever-changing healthcare system.…

    • 515 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout a nurse’s professional career, many difficult ethical and legal situations will arise. Since nurses are given the unique privilege of caring for patients and their families, it is important to uphold certain professional standards. The American Nursing Association (ANA) Code of Nursing Ethics provides a foundation on which a nurse should conduct her professional life. In addition to the Code of Ethics, nurses must also balance their personal values along with legal standards to make the best decisions for their patients.…

    • 672 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Nvt2 Task 1

    • 2266 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Spring, S. (2001). American Nurses Association (ANA). (2001). Code of ethics for nurses with interpretative statements.…

    • 2266 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Nursing Ethical Issues

    • 295 Words
    • 2 Pages

    However decision making is essential for nurses to participate in order to focus on ethical and moral issues and note situations that appears to be dilemmas with the help of professional and ethical competence (Tschudin, 2002). Moreover unprofessional ethical practice may result to litigations if care was deemed not to be professionally sound.…

    • 295 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Best Essays

    Framework For Praxis

    • 1985 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Medical advancement and practices have changed healthcare over the years. As the healthcare system changes so does the role of a nurse. As the elderly population in the United States grows the demand for primary care also increases but the use of Nurse Practitioners is estimated to reduce the shortage of primary care services (Schiff, 2012).This paper will provide an overview of the benefit of a framework for praxis for an Adult Primary Care Nurse Practitioner (APCNP) and examine how the framework helps in the development of nursing knowledge. The writer will give an overview of the role of an APCNP and how this role can help enrich the overall healthcare system. The paper will explore ideological, theoretical, and ethical components that guides and contribute to the growth of an APCNP framework for praxis. The paper will finally examine a case study of the use of the framework for praxis in a clinical setting.…

    • 1985 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements is a guide for nurses that was developed to assist nurses in performing their responsibilities and ethical duties that come along with the nursing profession. Ethical guidelines are important to have in the healthcare profession because they help health care dilemmas be recognized, differentiate between right and wrong conduct, and tell the healthcare worker what their responsibilities or duties to their patients are. Nurses are held accountable for violating the code of ethics, and disciplinary action may be held.…

    • 622 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nurses play important roles in the recovery of patients. The ethics of nursing is deciding what is right and wrong. Nursing ethics examines the ethics of caring rather than curing by exploring the everyday interaction between the nurse and the patient. Nurses need to have a code of ethics because they make decisions as part of their daily tasks and responsibilities. These decisions affect their patients, their families, and the facility where the nurse works so it is necessary for nurses to have a code which serves as the guidelines on how to act and behave. They need to have a guide on how to ethically and morally act in certain situations.…

    • 250 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The American Nurses Association (ANA) Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretative Statements is an excellent resource to aid individuals in the nursing profession in ethical decision making. Individuals who are in the profession of nursing are continually challenged having to making difficult and complex decisions. When such situations arise and nurses have to make ethic decisions in regards to patient care the Code of Ethics for Nurses aids in moral thinking. It provides nurses with the tools necessary for dealing with morally difficult situations. Nurse can only use the Code of Ethics as moral guide to the profession it is still up the individual to make independent decisions regarding patient care. After reviewing the Code of Ethics for Nurses the key concepts identified were rights, autonomy, beneficence, nonmalfience, and justice. The nurses’ ability to understand such concepts in both professional practice and personally can assist in difficult decisions. The nurse has a primary professional responsibility to the people under her care. The hierarchy of principles defiantly focuses on patient care but also those involved in the care and treatment of patient.…

    • 335 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In everyday work, nurses experience many ethical issues and they must stand up for their personal standards of what is right or wrong.…

    • 920 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Patient Safety

    • 735 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The purpose of this paper is to identify and describe the model of nursing care used in my facility, and how it relates to the American Nurses Code of Ethics (ANA) and patient safety guidelines. The hospital I worked for is a catholic based nonprofit organization, which uses Patient Centered Nursing Care model in most of the areas of nursing within the hospital, except for specialty areas such as the operating room where Functional Nursing model is utilized. Since I work in the operating room , I focus my on the descriptions of Functional Nursing model as implemented in this arena, how the model as practiced relates to respect for human dignity, relationships to patients, the relationship of nurse to patients, and the relationships to other personnel working within the perioperative setting.…

    • 735 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Faced with ethical and legal decisions on a daily basis, nurses must at times make some pretty tough decisions including how to proceed with care for an incapacitated patient with no advanced directive or how to proceed when called upon to testify against a current employer. The American Nurses Association Code of Nursing Ethics is one of the main tools available for the nurse to utilize when it comes to making these tough decisions. The nurse may apply personal values as well as societal values to these cases in order to come to a sound, ethical decision. The nurse also carries a legal responsibility to their profession, workplace, patients, and self. Ethical and legal decision-making are complex but after a thorough assessment, the nurse can continue to make an ethically and legally sound judgment on how to proceed.…

    • 421 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    The American Nurses Association Code of Nursing Ethics could influence a final decision in each case study that was presented. The six caps study revealed family members to have conflict in their desires when it came time for a decision in going ahead with surgery (the father’s desire) and having a poor quality of life as the outcome (the adult children’s belief based on physicians prognosis). The adult children believe that their mother would not want to have the…

    • 1411 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Professional Studies

    • 721 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The word ethics originates from the Greek term ethos. Ethos means customs, habitual usage, conduct, and character. The study of ethics has led to establishing key nursing principles such as, autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, justice, veracity, confidentiality, accountability and fidelity. These key principles help nurses deal with ethical or legal dilemmas. Ethics help by identifying standards, create a framework for ethical dilemmas and maintain human rights, and ethical values. Ethics help to make nurse practice safe, but also promote a positive outcome for the patient. This essay explores and identifys legal and ethical issues, from a case study, that nurses are faced with every day.…

    • 721 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays