Question

Develop a policy proposal, measures, and recommendations for prevention of legal and ethical violations.

N520- Legal and Ethical Issues in Health Care

Answer 1

The following are guidelines to assist nurses in ethical decision making.These guidelines reflect an active process in decision making.

Assessment

1 Assess the ethical/moral situations of the problem .This steps entails recognition of the ethical,legal,and professional dilemmas involved.

a Does the situation entail substantative moral problems?

b Are there procedural conflicts?Eg wwho should make the decisions?

c Identify the significant people involved and those affected by the decision?

Planning

2 Collect information

a include the following information:the medical facts ,treatment options,nursing diagnosis,legal data and the values ,beliefs and religious components.

b Make a distinction between the factual information and the values/beliefs.

c Validate the patients capacity ,or lack of capacity to make decisions.

d Identify anyother relevant information that should be elicited.

e Identify the ethical/moral issues and the competing claims.

Implementation

3 List the alternatives-Compare alternatives with applicable ethical principles and professional code of ethics.Choose either of the frameworks below or other frameworks and compare outcomes.

a Utilitarian approach-Predict the conequences of the alternatives,assign a positive or negative value to each consequence ,choose the consequence that predicts the highest positive vlue or "the greatest good for the greatest number" .

b Deontological approach-Identify the relevant moral principles;compare alternatives with moral principles;appeal to the "higher level"moral principle if there is a conflict.

Evaluation

4 Decide and evaluate the decision

a What is the best or morally correct action?

b Give the ethical reasons for your decision?

c What are the ethical reasons against your decision?

d How do you respond to the reasons against your decision?