In nursing, we always are putting theories to practice. Many times, nurses do not even think about it, they just act. Problems will always arise and many times they will consist of an ethical issue. A nurse must know her place while dealing with these issues. Below is a portion of a journal I wrote concerning an ethical dilemma the nurses and I faced during a shift of my leadership clinical rotation.
Ethical Dilemma
One ethical dilemma that we faced on the unit today was one of life or death. Although it was not directly the nurses’ decision on what to do, we had to choose our words carefully. We had a patient who is dying and is still on dialysis. He has completely stopped eating and drinking and is refusing his medication daily. He did make out a living will but no one at the doctor’s office or his family can seem to find a copy. His wife however, knows exactly what he wants and/or does not want. Since he is not eating the doctor has suggested a feeding tube. His wife specifically remembers him saying that he never wanted that but her kids want her to do it. She kept asking the nurses what she should do. We had to be careful to only offer support and not to impart our own thoughts upon her.
Related Leadership Concepts/ Theories/ Research
Respect for others acknowledges the right of individuals to make decisions and to live by these decisions. (Yoder-Wise, 2007)
Personal Reaction
Respect for others is a high principle when speaking on ethics. Ultimately, the patient’s wife is going to have to make the decision for no feeding tube and to stop dialysis. She will live with these decisions for the rest of her life. As nurses, we must be careful because it would be so easy to go in the room and give our own opinion on what to do. We have to support the family and respect her decision.
