Solution
Soumi answered on
May 21 2020
Running Head: MS. L.: RATIONAL SUICIDE 1
MS. L.: RATIONAL SUICIDE 6
MODULE 4: CASE STUDY #5
MS. L.: RATIONAL SUICIDE
Table of Contents
Introduction 3
Ethical principles impacting the case study 3
Discussion of 7 steps by Pottery and Pe
y for processing an ethical dilemma 4
Personal philosophy of nursing and its impact on addressing the case study 5
Conclusion 5
References 6
Introduction
Ethical dilemmas occur when decision-making becomes difficult in terms of determining the ‘appropriate’ decision from the ‘lesser appropriate’ one in a situation. It leaves the involved decision-maker perplexed, due to a collision between their perception, morals and ethics, while judging the situation. Hence, it is important to process the ethical dilemma, first, with a suitable method so that the resolution of the confusing situation can be eliminate. The present study highlights the ethical dilemmas in case of Ms. L’s decision to commit a rational suicide that has been implicated through Pottery and Pe
y’s 7 steps within nursing care practice.
Ethical principles impacting the case study
The provided case scenario highlights that Ms. L is a 45 years’ old woman suffering from
east cancer. She has a family with her husband and two teenaged daughters, whom she does not want to inform about her cu
ent health conditions, nor of the fact that she is cu
ently, undergoing the treatment. She has a painful past of her mother also being suffering from
east cancer at the age of 49 years, and having committed suicide when Ms. L was only 15 years’ old, because the former discovered that her condition reached an incurable stage. Therefore, when Ms. L too began developing worse health issues, possibly due to progressing cancer, she expressed her desire to commit suicide like her mother, for which she had also contacted the Hemlock Society and managed sourcing suicidal pills to end her life in her family’s absence.
However, for me, it is a difficult situation to confide her secret to myself, as it also involves the interest of her family, who care for her so much and let her commit suicide only out of her will, without analyzing its appropriacy through ethical guidelines of nursing practice. Therefore, the ethical principle that first emerges in this case is the right of the patient to autonomy, under which as mentioned by Ford, English, Dowshen and Rogers (2016), the patient is liable to receive autonomous behavior from the nurses. Hence, her decision to commit suicide should be respected according to this principle.
Nevertheless, it conflicts with the ethical principles of beneficence and non-maleficence. As defined by Kassam-Adams and Butler (2017), beneficence stands for the psyche to cause benefits to others, while non-maleficence is the tendency to prevent causing harm to others. Within nursing practice, these two are considered as two of the most...