In a broad spectrum, nine-year old Yusef Camp’s case raises a number of agonizing and intriguing moral and ethical dilemmas for medical practitioners. It is worth acknowledging that in the process of providing care whether in the basic or aggressive capacities, nurses strive to meet the best practices criterion. However, Yusef’s condition creates the dilemma due to the legality and ethical concerns that arise from his case. It is apparently clear that Yusef is experiencing a series of medically unresolvable sufferings for a long period now. Since he was brought to the healthcare facility for care, his situation has been worsening. The legality issues arise from the fact that the District of Columbia was yet to create regulations that guide death pronouncements based on brain criteria. In regards to moral and ethical concerns there are numerous strings that can be derived from Yusef’s case to create a worthwhile nursing debate. The major challenge being that Ronald Camp, the boy’s father has not yet decided on what to consider in regards to the endeavor to end his son’s suffering’s. Moreover, it is evident that Ronald Camp is a religious man whose religious faith contradicts with the anything to do with stopping care thus bringing morality-based reasoning into the discussion. The available stipulated regulations allow relatives, physicians and the judicial structures of the court to make critical decisions in regards to voluntary or involuntary physician-assisted termination of life ( Dunning & Sinclair, 2017 ). The discussion of the case will therefore be based on legal aspects, nursing best practices, morality concerns, and ethical attributes.
Could the nurses or the physicians argue that care should be stopped because he was dead?
Following an in-depth analysis of the situation, it is precisely evident that Yusef may not be dead; there may be chances of his survival just as his father contemplates. Although medical interventions may have ruled out any chances of his recuperation, his father believes that his Almighty God may intervene and chooses to alleviate his sufferings by healing him. No matter how long the time for healing would be, his father’s decision not to allow the nurses to rule Yusef dead is coined in his religious beliefs. On the other hand, the nurses have experienced a lot of challenges handling the situation and the amount of resources, energy and time spent while working towards providing care for Yusef are trivially irrelevant. A decision ought to be made to relieve the boy from suffering either though healing or through pronouncing him dead just terminate his life. Based on Chambers and Ryder (2018) assertion, the controverting issue lies on the fact that the fundamental principles of healthcare include beneficence, malevolence, autonomy and justice hence all decisions should be founded on the principles.
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By pronouncing him dead, the nurses will be unfair to the boy’s father because he is against the endeavor. Secondly, by stopping care, it will mean the boy will be pronounced dead for the purpose of focusing on other patients resulting to unfairness thus going against the long-standing principle of fairness in healthcare provision ( Dunning & Sinclair, 2017 ). Thirdly, by denying the patient or a close relative to make a decision and therefore a choice in regards to what the boy should be subjected to, results to the breach of the fundamental principle of autonomy ( Dunning & Sinclair, 2017 ). All the above reasons amount to moral conflict and they affect the relevance on making similar decision in the healthcare sector. However challenging the process would be, the nurses can intervene and help Ronald Camp understand how necessary stopping care is. It is true that Yusef is developing maggots in his lungs and nasal passages while his right foot and ankle are becoming gangrenous day by day; the sufferings are out of touch. By convincing the boy’s father to accept the more-like euthanized idea of stopping care, the nurses could possibly argue that care should be terminated and pronounce him dead but after reaching out to the father for mutual understanding.
Could they overrule the parents’ judgment about the usefulness of the treatment even if he were not dead?
The entire process of pronouncing Yusef dead is a moral and ethical issue which requires mutual understanding and consent from the boy’s close relative because his condition does not allow him to make a reasonable decision. Although there are some gaps in the legality of the endeavor, it is imperative for the nurses to understand Ronald Camp’s argument. The father seems not that adamant about rejecting the idea. The nurses are therefore expected to provide factual reasoning and logic to try and change the boy’s father position. According to the Hippocratic Oath for doctors and nurses, it is not ethical to engage in such an activity because nurses’ main objective is to protect life ( Ellis, 2019) . This tally’s with the father’s religious belief that if the nurses continue to care for his son, God might one day decide to offer him healing. Therefore, the entire responsibility to make the decision lies with the father and therefore the nurses could not overrule his judgment about the usefulness of the treatment.
Could they legitimately take into account the welfare of the other patients and the enormous costs involved when deciding whether to limit their attention to Yusef?
The analysis of Yusef’s case from a nursing perspective, it is unlikely that the boy will receive healing no matter the efforts and care accorded to him. The reasoning owes to the fact that some parts of the body are developing maggots and the body is disintegrating. Moreover, the patient does not respond to any induced pain meaning that his brain activity has been limited to a near-death scenario. By continuing to offer the much needed care to Yusef, the nurses are compromising on their ability to take care of other patients within their reach. In addition, it is apparently clear that burden of cost that the institution and boy’s parent are subjected to, is weighty. It is therefore imperious to take to consideration those aspects and make a legitimate decision towards stopping the care. Although stopping the care to focus on other patients may seem to be the best decision by the nurses, the final thought on the decision to make is with the family members ( Brasel & Condron, 2019 ). In this case, it is Yusef’s father who seems not to subscribe to the notion of stopping the care. Therefore, there are no legitimate grounds for the nurses to limit their attention on Yusef. As long as his father is willing to foot for the bill, the welfare of other patients lies on the organizational capacity to provide enough nurses to take care of all patients without compromising on the health some patients including Yusef ( Brasel & Condron, 2019 ). As highlighted earlier, the entire process of making a logical, ethical and pocket-friendly decision can only be founded on creating an attribute of mutual understanding between the nurses and Ronald Camp. All patients are entitles to quality care administered with utmost care and considerations ( Ellis , 2019). According to Dees et al (2018), the rationale behind withdrawing or stopping care for any patients should be based on the fact that burdens imposed on the nurses and the family of the patient in regards to cost and other considerations outweighs the benefits that accrue. However weighty the costs and the impact of offering care to Yusef could be, it is advisable for the nurses to involve his family in making such a critical decision. This is because the nurses’ codes of ethics require nurses to preserve dignity and promote justice in their practices.
References
Brasel, K., & Condron, M. (2019). End of Life Issues. In Surgical Ethics (pp. 239-248). Springer, Cham.
Chambers, C., & Ryder, E. (2018). Compassion and caring in nursing . Routledge.
Dees, M. K., Geijteman, E. C., Dekkers, W. J., Huisman, B. A., Perez, R. S., van Zuylen, L., ... & Van Leeuwen, E. (2018). Perspectives of patients, close relatives, nurses, and physicians on end-of-life medication management. Palliative & supportive care , 16 (5), 580- 589.
Dunning, T., & Sinclair, A. J. (2017). Palliative and end ‐ of ‐ life care. Diabetes in Old Age , 470.
Ellis, P. (2019). Evidence-based practice in nursing . Learning Matters.
