...Physician assisted suicide has been a controversial topic in this country for many years. Some believe that people who are sick and dying should have the legal right to end their life with the help of a physician. There are many terminal cancer patients who are so sick they will not have a chance to live the rest of their life so they choose the route of physician assisted suicide. They choose it because it is an easy pain free way to end their life. Although people may say physician assisted suicide is unethical, physician assisted suicide is ethical because it is a person's individual choice whether they want to live or die and it reduces suffering. There have been many cases and statewide issues that have dealt with physician assisted suicide. The state of California and Washington denied the idea of physician assisted suicide. In the early 1990’s California and Washington rejected the votes that would have allowed Physician assisted suicide to be legal. Physician assisted suicide is a state issue. Physician assisted suicide was a problem in states...
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...Imagine you are lying in a hospital bed hooked up to a countless amount of machines. The doctors have done everything they can and have told you that you have no chance of survival, now it’s just a matter of time before you make the final decision. It would only make sense to end the suffering, retain your dignity, and lessen the overall cost of your medical care and life support. Being able to choose what you do with your life, especially in a terminally ill state, should be a fundamental human right and a legal option for anyone around the globe. One major benefit of physician-assisted suicide is that it ends suffering. According to "Doctor Assisted Suicide Pros and Cons List," as death nears, a lot of physical pain can occur from terminal...
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...nurse finding out her sister’s boyfriend is HIV positive is a difficult one. There are many moral, legal, and ethical implications in a situation like this. While it is easy to want to jump to one decision concerning this issue, there are many things to consider before making a decision. Patient’s Rights First and foremost, the patient’s rights and privacy needs to be the first thing reviewed. HIV/AIDS status is considered “superconfidential” in a patient’s medical record, and any unjust disclosure can lead to very severe consequences. Under Florida’s Omnibus AIDS Act, releasing HIV status without the patient’s consent or knowledge is a first degree misdemeanor and can result in disciplinary action from the providers licensing board (Hartog, 2009, p. 38). Before deciding to do anything, review the patients’ rights and the nursing code of ethics. Many ethical terms come into play here. Autonomy ensures that the patient is allowed to make their own decision about their health care. There are some specific legal implications regarding an HIV diagnosis, but that will be discussed later. Under the nurse’s code of ethics, nurses need to respect a patient’s autonomy and right to choose their care (“Ethics”). Reviewing the Diagnosis The first action to be taken would be to schedule an appointment with the boyfriend and inform him of his HIV status, if that has not already been done. Florida specifically offers various types of counseling to newly diagnosed HIV patient and...
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...Emily Yapp Ms. Jones English 3A 11/22/2013 Euthanasia: Is it Right or Wrong? There are many topics that are passionately debated in our country. Abortion, capital punishment, and gay marriage are among the few that seem to be at the center of many news broadcast and political debates. However, one that seems is not on the front position would be Euthanasia, or Physician-assisted suicide (PAS). Currently, only four states have legalized PAS: Montana, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington. These states have strict guidelines one must follow in order to end their life with the help of a physician. They include eligibility requirements, physician protocols, and timelines that must be followed. Support for such a practice varies from person to person. Political and religious factors certainly play a role in the way people view euthanasia. Euthanasia should be the patient's choice. The word Euthanasia stems from a Greek word that can be translated "a good death." Euthanasia can be classified into two different categories, active and passive (The Free Dictionary)( Types of Euthanasia). Passive euthanasia is when a patient does not receive life sustaining treatments, such as medications, tube feedings or mechanical ventilation, that result in the patient's death. Passive euthanasia is legal in all states in the form of Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) orders. Patients are also legally allowed to refuse any types of treatment or therapy they would like, even if it results in their death. This...
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... excited, and enthusiastic puppy has now become an un-energetic, lazy old dog that has lived and experienced all that life has had to offer her. Meggie is faced with numerous unbearable diseases due to her old age and cries regularly and refuses to take her medication, for she is ready to face her death in-order to put an end to her misery. As Meggie’s guardian and caretaker, what action must you take in regards to Meggie’s continued life? Fully aware of your dog’s pain and misery, aware of the fact that she is waiting for the arrival of her death, ready to pass on to the next stage; should you be given the right to decide whether she continues to live her miserable life or to grant her wishes and put her to sleep? Should it be your decision to make? Of course not! It is Meggie’s life that is in question, and for that reason it becomes her decision, whether she chooses to end or continue living her life. Meggie’s decision to orchestrating her death by refusing medication is a parallel representation to a wide-spread argument across the world today, known as Euthanasia. While it is viewed as an unethical and demoralizing act to most people, euthanasia must become legal and recognized as a possible solution to those with terminal and catastrophic diseases within the United States of America. Euthanasia, also known as physician assisted suicide, is defined by taking deliberate action with the express intention of ending one’s life to relieve persistent and unstoppable suffering;...
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...2014 The case of Elizabeth Bouvia v. Superior Court is a well-known case in the patient’s right to refuse treatment. Elizabeth Bouvia was born with cerebral palsy, which worsened, as she grew older and subsequently caused her to become a quadriplegic. She additionally developed severe degenerative arthritis that caused her to be in continuous unbearable pain. At the age of twenty-eight her condition had worsened to the point that she was said to be bed ridden and completely dependent on others for her activities of daily living. Although she had many physical challenges she was a smart competent young woman. In her early adult years she had obtained a college degree and at one point had gone back to school to begin a Master’s in Social Work program. She was also married for a short time. However as a result of her inability to make a living and her physical disabilities she found herself in 1986 without a place to live, requiring constant analgesic treatment for her arthritis pain and unable to consume large amounts of food by mouth. Due to her lack of a permanent living situation and need for continuous care she checked herself into a Los Angeles Public hospital. During this stay her weight was recorded to be as low as 60 -70 pounds and she was unable to consume solid foods in any significant amount. As a result of her current medical status the physician’s and her healthcare team choose to go against her written wishes to not be force-fed and placed a nasogastric tube...
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...Destinie Bradford RST 4110 WB 01 Final Exam Paper There are many reasons why college students choose to take online classes. Some reasons are as simple as not having to get up early to go to campus, or as simple as being able to learn at their own pace. In my case I love taking online classes because I am able to take more classes towards my degree without having to be on campus every day. Also, since I work full-time, online classes make it much easier for me to balance my work and school schedule. When I was making my schedule for fall semester and I knew that I needed to take this class, I have to tell you I was very excited. I know from working in the medical field that many different and challenging situations arise and need to be addressed properly, that is where medical ethics comes into play. During this semester I learned about multiple different issues, thoughts, beliefs and reasons on how we should deal with certain situations. But, there were two things that struck me and make me think when I am at work dealing with patients and their families. Medical ethics is defined as a system of moral principles that apply values and judgments to the practice of medicine. As a learned discipline, medical ethics encompasses its everyday use in clinical settings as well as work on its history, philosophy, theology, and sociology. There are several moral principles and values that help to provide a framework for understanding conflicts. . If you look at each of...
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...REPLACEMENT EXERCISES Due to a security change in the SpringCharts software after the printing of this text, some of the activities in exercises 4.4, 5.3, 10.3, and 10.4 cannot be performed. The following exercises should be used to replace the three exercises in the text if you are using SpringCharts on a single user computer. If you are using SpringCharts in a network environment another set of exercises is available on the McGraw-Hill Online Learning Center and will replace all the exercises in the Electronic Health Records textbook. >> Exercise 4.4 (LO 4.5) Working the Messages Center 1. Once again you will function in the role of the office manager. Click one time in the Message header in the lower right quadrant. Click [No] to the question: Does this message concern a Patient? In the subject line, type the subject: Staff Meeting. In the body of the message invite the staff to the meeting, giving the time and location. Click in the [MultiSend] button in the middle of the New Message window. Check all the staff except the doctor. Click on the [Send] button. You will notice the new message appears in you own message center at the top of the list displaying the subject, date, and time that the message was sent. This is because you are logged onto the program as Demo . 2. As the office manager you would like to save this message so you can send it out again next month. Click on the staff meeting message in your message center. Click on the [Save] button in the middle...
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...MODULE 2 Standards of Care | Met | Unmet | Example | Recommendation | 1. Patients have access to the health care organizations’ services based on their identified health care needs and the organizations’ mission and resources. | * | | Patients are being cared of according to their complaint: * The patient is complaining of flank pain, the health care provider in the institution performs assessment and laboratory examinations. | | 2. The patient has a process for admitting patients to the organization. | * | | The institution has the TRIAGE system. * The institution utilizes this system in determining priorities and intervening to needs. | | 3. Patients with emergency or immediate needs are given priority for assessment and treatment. | * | | | | 4. At admission, the health care organization provides the following information to patients’ and appropriate family member and decision makers; information on the proposed care, the expected results of the care, and any expected cost to the patient for the care. | * | | Consent for admission is being explained to and signed by the significant other and the patient. | | 5. The organization seeks to reduce physical, language, cultural and other barriers to access and delivery of service. | * | | * As much as possible, patients having different dialect are being entertained by using the same dialect. * During blood transfusion, patients’ cultures are being respected after...
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...of Rights applies to this case. The Patient’s Bill of Rights was created to try to reach three major goals: 1) To help patients feel more confident in the health care system; *Assures that the health care system is fair and it works to meet patient’s needs *Gives patients a way to address any problems they may have *Encourages patients to take an active role in staying or getting healthy. 2) To stress the importance of a strong relationship between patients and their care providers. 3) To stress the key role patients play in staying healthy by laying out rights and responsibilities for all patients and health care providers. The Patient’s Bill of Rights in this case, were formed to provide a base for understanding and respecting the rights and responsibilities of patients, their families, doctors and other caregivers. For the patient of this particular case, Mrs. Jones did not choose to get terminal cancer; however, she has also not chosen whether to be given an extra dose of a narcotic to end her life. Although, she is a single mother, her family should be contacted and consulted as well as other caregivers for their opinion and decisions. In Mrs. Jones’s case, she is probably not considered to have decision-making abilities due to the stage of her cancer and the decision may need to be made for her. However, it is the responsibility of the Cancer Center to make sure the patient receives considerate and respectful care and act that they act in the patient’s best...
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...regarding patients’ rights – specifically whether or not a patient has the right to die if they choose to do so (Altmann & Collins, 2007). While euthanasia and physician assisted suicide are not new topics, they did receive an increase in public and media attention during the early 1990s. Most notably Dr. Jack Kevorkian, who defied the law and assisted in 130 patient suicides, Dr. Kevorkian’s actions brought about increased media coverage on the topic of physician assisted suicide, which is a contributing factor as to why the Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act was conceived in the first place (Werth JR & Wineberg, 2005). On the one side of the spectrum were advocates of physician assisted suicide who maintained that it was an infringement on patients’ rights to deny them aid in dying, and inhumane to make people suffer when diagnosed with a terminal illness (Merino, 2012). On the other side were critics who concluded that physician assisted suicide was a breach of medical ethics, and morally unacceptable because it devalued human life. Furthermore, these critics found that assisted suicide was not valid because there were alternative solutions, such as improving physician training on pain management, and end of life care (Merino, 2012). In 1997, the decision was made, to sign into law, the Oregon Death with Dignity Act (ODWDA), which allowed Oregon physicians to prescribe medicine to specific patients fully knowing that consuming it would bring about the patient’s death (Altmann &...
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...know before making decision about treatment? What kinds of challenges occur in presenting the information to patients? What can a patient advocate (PA) do to ensure the rule is observed? Here are some examples: 1. The Diagnose: The doctor may have misdiagnosed the patient. In many cases a second opinion is an important consideration that the PA can suggest. In some cases it may not be possible to diagnose the patient’s illness, due to the limits of medical understanding. A PA can make sure to ask questions and ensure that all reasonable efforts have been made to diagnose the illness. The PA can also research the illness and provide the information to patient for their review. 2. The risks and possible consequences of treatment: One of the challenges of providing this information is that the doctor may have not covered all the possible risks (with the exclusion of unlikely outcomes) or failed to provide the success rates for of the physician and/or institution. A PA can ensure that all of the information is included in the discussion and that all the patient’s questions are answered by attending the appointment with the patient. 3. Expected benefits of the treatment or procedure: One problem that may arise is that the physician may over estimate or under estimate the benefits of the treatment or procedure. Doctors need to be cautious when discussing outcomes because all patient are unique. Doctors are wise to use statistical outcome data. PAs can ask for the data if...
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...debated. As it is directly derived from the Rachels’s article, the debate revolves around the following statement: “it is permissible, at least in some cases, to withhold treatment and allow a patient to die, but it is never permissible to take any direct action designed to kill the patient” (364). There is a debate as to whether there is really any difference between active and passive euthanasia. In the minds of some, the removal of life-support, or passive euthanasia, is defined as "doing something to terminate life" (Larue, 1999). At the same time, "passive euthanasia" has become a term serving only to deny responsibility and perhaps to allow the medical staff and the physicians from being accused of having something done to cause the patient's death. The second major issue in the euthanasia world is that the conventional doctrine leads to decisions “concerning life and death of human beings made on irrelevant grounds” (365). In his article,...
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...would help alleviate suffering of terminally ill patients. It would be inhuman and unfair to make them endure the unbearable pain. In case of individuals suffering from incurable diseases or in conditions where effective treatment wouldn’t affect their quality of life; they should be given the liberty to choose induced death. Also, the motive of euthanasia is to "aid-in-dying" painlessly and thus should be considered and accepted by law. Although killing in an attempt to defend oneself is far different from mercy killing, law does find it worth approving. In an attempt to provide medical and emotional care to the patient, a doctor does and should prescribe medicines that will relieve his suffering even if the medications cause gross side effects. This means that dealing with agony and distress should be the priority even if it affects the life expectancy. Euthanasia follows the same theory of dealing with torment in a way to help one die peacefully out of the compromising situation. Euthanasia should be a natural extension of patient's rights allowing him to decide the value of life and death for him. Maintaining life support systems against the patient's wish is...
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...The Right to Death: Advocating for the Patient’s Right Kristine Bisceglia N176 Saddleback College The Right to Death: Advocating for the Patient’s Right As new graduate nurses we are going to be presented with many new challenges while working in the hospital and as we transition into this role of “nurse” instead of “student nurse”, we will be actively learning how to manage our time, our patient load and what it truly means to be an advocate for our patient’s rights. One challenge that we all are going to face for the first time is learning how to accommodate a dying patient and their wishes. The challenge isn’t just about providing care but also how to handle the patient’s family and even our own possible opposing beliefs. First, we are going to have to understand difference and what our ethical obligations are when we are faced with questions and situations pertaining to end of life decisions. An advance directive allows a competent adult to make the decision about their end of life care and this is acknowledged in a formal document known as a living will. The document will include; an individual the patient has chosen to make decisions for them if they become incompetent or incapacitated to make decisions on their own, stipulations on what is acceptable care and treatments and procedures that are not to be implemented as well as authorization for the patient’s physician to withhold or discontinue certain life-sustaining procedures under specific conditions (Cherry...
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