Jie, L. (2015). The patient suicide attempt–An ethical dilemma case study. International Journal of Nursing Sciences , 2 (4), 408-413.
The article critically examines an ethical dilemma involving an end-stage aggressive prostate cancer patient called Mr. Green and a nurse in Brisbane, QLD; Australia. In this case, Mr. Green expressed his suicidal thoughts to a nurse and asks the nurse to maintain the secrecy of the idea. The article identifies the dilemma as “if the nurse reveals to other healthcare members about the patient’s suicide attempt, would this be a violation of the values for the consent of the patient” ( Jie, 2015). The author applies the ethical theories, principles and the Australian Code of Ethics for the Nursing practice as well as the associated literature to analyze the case before making the best moral decision. After an analysis of the factors inherent to the case, the author gives the best ethical action for the nurse, where she should share the information of Mr. Green’s suicide attempt with other healthcare professionals amid the constraint of disregarding the consent of the patient. The key terms of the article are suicide attempt, ethical theory, and principles.
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An analysis of the case shows that after Mr. Green revealed his suicide attempts to the nurse, the nurse chose to share the information with other health care professionals, where the nursing team followed the self-harm and suicide protocol of the hospital while maintaining consistent communication with the patient. They also identified the factors that led the patient to the thoughts of suicide attempts and gave intervention protocols to deal with the inherent risk factors ( Jie, 2015) . The patient was later transferred to a palliative care having displayed no suicidal signs and other related self-harm behaviors, where he passed away 76 days after discharge in the company of his relatives.
The major conflict that the article raises is that by revealing the suicide attempts of Mr. Green, the nurse violated the rights to the consent of the patient. It is a requirement that any patient information should be shared with the consent of the patient ( Jie, 2015) . On the contrary, if the nurse would not have shared the information, the patient would have contravened the definition of the principle of beneficence, where she would not have taken a positive step in promoting an action that benefits other people.
I can offer the original point of view in the case by applying the principle of autonomy. The principle respects the competent right of the patient in making their own decisions. It also requires that the nurses should respect the confidentiality of the patient and ensure that the actions of the staff have informed consent of the patients. Application of the principle of autonomy to this case shows that the choice of keeping secret the information would have respected the patient’s right of informed consent ( Jie, 2015) . On the contrary, keeping the secret would amount to ignoring the patient’s potential suicide with the consequent self-harm behavior.
Current Ethical Dilemma
In the current ethical Dilemma, Sarah, 10-year-old presents with end-stage cystic fibrosis. After a thorough examination, doctors at the Philadelphia healthcare facility say that the only chance for survival of the patient is the lung transplant. The longstanding transplant policy in Philadelphia stipulates that Sarah is only eligible for transplants from a child donor, where she cannot use that of the adult donors. The child lungs are not available and just like many children lying in the healthcare facility, Sarah will have to die as she waits for a potential donor. The doctors must wait for a petition to make it an exception for Sarah, while time is running out as Sarah nears her end-stage. The dilemma, in this case, is that should the doctors modify the adult lung to save the life of Sarah in as much as this will be in contravention to the law should there be any adversaries or should they wait for the rulings as the petition. Applying the categorical imperative, the doctors should carry out the transplant by modifying the adult lungs and save the life of Sarah and other children waiting for rare child donors considering that the adult lungs are more than available for their case.
Reference
Jie, L. (2015). The patient suicide attempt–An ethical dilemma case study. International Journal of Nursing Sciences , 2 (4), 408-413. From: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352013215000149
