Surrogacy and Kant
Ethical Decision Making Paper The following case involves a seventy one year old male patient who told his family if the time ever came when he could not sustain life on his own he didn’t want measures taken to do so. This patient found out in the late summer of 2008 he had stage four pancreatic cancer.
The doctor gave him about four weeks to live. At this point he took things into his own hands and made his daughter durable power of attorney for his healthcare needs. Over the next few weeks he became very week and could no longer walk. He stopped eating and drinking due to the mixture of him not feeling well and the medication he was taking.
Eventually Hospice was called in to help assist with him and provide some comfort measures.
Due to the increased incontinence he was having, hospice felt it was necessary to put a catheter in place. The family became concerned about him not eating and drinking and wanted an IV line started in the patient. Some of the family chose to place the line. The daughter who was the power of Attorney of healthcare over him decided a few days later to discontinue the IV line. This caused a big argument among the family members. The hospice nurse was ordered to discontinue the line. She felt horrible going into the home and discontinuing the IV line but she had to follow the doctor’s orders. Approximately one week later the patient passed away. The ethical decision the nurse was put in was not what she would have done with her own family member, but this was her job and she needed to follow the orders from the physician. Multiple things need to be taken into consideration before a good a good ethical decision can be made. A good ethical decision making process is what we will be looking at throughout this paper.
When faced with the need to make an ethical judgment, we may choose the first idea
that comes to mind or take advice from another individual. However, a professional
The doctor gave him about four weeks to live. At this point he took things into his own hands and made his daughter durable power of attorney for his healthcare needs. Over the next few weeks he became very week and could no longer walk. He stopped eating and drinking due to the mixture of him not feeling well and the medication he was taking.
Eventually Hospice was called in to help assist with him and provide some comfort measures.
Due to the increased incontinence he was having, hospice felt it was necessary to put a catheter in place. The family became concerned about him not eating and drinking and wanted an IV line started in the patient. Some of the family chose to place the line. The daughter who was the power of Attorney of healthcare over him decided a few days later to discontinue the IV line. This caused a big argument among the family members. The hospice nurse was ordered to discontinue the line. She felt horrible going into the home and discontinuing the IV line but she had to follow the doctor’s orders. Approximately one week later the patient passed away. The ethical decision the nurse was put in was not what she would have done with her own family member, but this was her job and she needed to follow the orders from the physician. Multiple things need to be taken into consideration before a good a good ethical decision can be made. A good ethical decision making process is what we will be looking at throughout this paper.
When faced with the need to make an ethical judgment, we may choose the first idea
that comes to mind or take advice from another individual. However, a professional