“Ethical dilemmas, also known as moral dilemmas, are
situations in which there are two choices to be made, neither of which resolves
the situation in an ethically acceptable fashion.”
Simply put, there is no right or wrong decision in the situation just decisions based on what you stand for and what you believe in. But since everyone is entitled to their own opinions and not all people share the same beliefs hence, a dilemma is born.
Simply put, there is no right or wrong decision in the situation just decisions based on what you stand for and what you believe in. But since everyone is entitled to their own opinions and not all people share the same beliefs hence, a dilemma is born.
Pro-choice vs Pro-life.
This issue greatly affects a majority, if not all, of the nurses around the
world. Whether you are for or against abortion, your brains will surely get
racked once a situation is presented to you. How do you expect a nurse to care
for someone who has had an abortion when the nurse is anti-abortion and
considers it an act of murder? But on
the other hand, what if the fetus inside the womb could compromise the mother’s
health how can you not consider an abortion? You see, even if you already have
a firm stand on things. Everything still greatly varies upon the situation on
hand.
Justice. This
refers to the obligation to be fair to all people. That means, whether rich or
poor they are entitled to the same health services needed to reach optimum
health. But that’s already a given (though still an issue at hand). What I’d
like to point out in Justice is caring for publicly judged individuals –
thieves, murderers, rapists, and convicts. How can one care for people like
these if you know that they’ve committed hateful crimes, murdered hundreds or even
thousands of innocent victims? Would you just look the other way and follow the
oath you’ve taken or would you neglect your profession and refuse to care for
these individuals?
When to tell what. Especially
when it comes to the “truth” nurses are torn between the patient and his/her
family. If the family insists on keeping the information from the patient because
of fear that the prognosis will bring harm to their loved one. How do you
successfully avoid telling the patient the truth without lying to them?
These are just some of the many ethical issues they face in their daily life. But one thing's for sure, being a nurse is everything but easy. It’s already hard to make decisions on your own, how much
more if there are a lot of factors to consider not to mention your own license
at stake? Nurses don’t make judgments involving only their personhood, but also
for the sake of others well-being Imagine the pressure and responsibility on
the healthcare providers’ shoulders. How do they keep their cool and sanity
when their on the edge of breaking down, we are all human beings. We can only
take so much, yet others are willing to stretch their own limit for others.
In the future years to come, more and more ethical dilemmas
will surely arise especially how our world has advanced the past few years.
Everyone has their own definition of “right or wrong” and of what and what not
to do.
I leave the judgment to your own hands and depart with this
quote:
“In the end, only kindness matters.”
Reference(s):
10 comments:
A great post. Because it points out the difficulties a nurse must go through just to make a decision. This does not only apply to the sample topics given above but in almost every decision we make. Big or small, nurses make decisions for the well-being of their patients. So ultimately, it boils down to what is right and wrong not only for us, but for the people around us.
ultimately nurses must ba able to answer these questions in the end so they gotta get used to it as early as possible
The issue really affects the majority and as a nurse, you must be aware of the different kinds of ethics and know when to apply them at the right time and place.
Nothing in this world comes in a silver platter. So is making a decision for a client's well-being. Like what you have mentioned,'Being a nurse is everything but easy'. This post is a big help not only to those student nurses, but also to the licensed nurses who are having these ethical dilemmas in their clinical duties.
yeah, we have our own definition of right or wrong. we just have to respect it :)
As nurses, nothing is easy. Our decision would affect the lives of a great deal of people.
I would like to give my viewpoint on the one on justice. It is true that caring for a life that cares so little of life is difficult but in our profession we render care, no matter how monstrous that life has been. For we do not choose, we serve.
I do commend you on this post. very creatively done and content wise, an eye opener.
good points well made.
on abortion: as nurses, we should be client advocate. on the former situation, we ought to be client advocate. whatever the did, we have to render care for her. that is what we do. on the latter situation, it is right i think to save the mother instead of losing two lives at once. it is up to the family who theyd want to save.:)
at the end of the day, only kindness matters.
good read. di pwede magbisaya?
Yeah, dilemmas are inevitable for a Nursing Profession. Our patient's lives are entrusted to us with faith. No matter what this person do for a living, an assassin or what, no matter who they are, Nurses have pledged wholeheartedly to devote themselves to the welfare of those committed to their care. True, each individuals have their own perception on what is right and wrong which is why even some professionals regard the Ethical Code to be just an opinion of other people.
However wrong or right we think our actions will be, we should have an understanding on the basic principles of ethics for us to have a common basis on what is wrong and right :)
Professionals are always held accountable for their actions. And we nurses have our patients lives at risk. And so we have to be deeply founded in ethics and in our faith in GOD. As you have said earlier we all have our daily dose of ethical dilemmas and so we are extremely in need of guiding principles to lead us through and through.
i do agree with your stand that 'in the end, only kindness matters' for all points of a dilemma should also be considered as well. hence, it is up to both parties to agree with what solution or choice they would make for good.
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