Ethics in the Nursing Profession – Case One Discussion
Ethical Problem
The main ethical problem in this scenario is the breach of patient confidentiality by the new pro-life nurse. By informing the patient’s husband about the pregnancy and upcoming appointment without the patient’s consent, the nurse violated the ethical principles of autonomy, privacy, confidentiality, and fidelity. The patient has the right to make her own healthcare decisions and control who has access to her private medical information. The nurse infringed on these rights.
Principles Breached
The nurse’s actions directly violated the principles of autonomy, privacy, confidentiality, and fidelity. Autonomy refers to the patient’s right to make decisions about their own healthcare and have those wishes respected. By telling the husband to come to the next appointment, the nurse disregarded the patient’s autonomous choice. Privacy and confidentiality refer to keeping a patient’s health information private without their consent to disclose it. The nurse breached these principles by informing the husband of the wife’s pregnancy and abortion plan without permission (ANA, 2023; Cheraghi et al., 2023). Fidelity means maintaining faithfulness and honoring commitments in the nurse-patient relationship. By breaking confidentiality against the patient’s wishes, the nurse breached fidelity.
Resolving the Issue
To resolve this breach of ethics, I would begin by sincerely apologizing to the patient for violating her confidentiality. I would make it clear that what happened was completely unacceptable and assure her that steps were already underway to prevent any future lapses in privacy. Following the apology, I would formally report the pro-life nurse’s actions to the appropriate authority within the clinic to review the incident and determine if disciplinary action is warranted. It is imperative that we make it clear that a nurse’s personal beliefs should never interfere with patient care or privacy rights. After reporting the incident, I would promptly issue a reminder to all clinic staff about our policies and procedures related to maintaining patient privacy and confidentiality. It is critical that the importance of respecting a patient’s confidentiality is reinforced with the entire team. Finally, I would ensure that the patient’s right to make autonomous decisions about her healthcare is fully supported by facilitating her access to proceed with the abortion appointment exactly as she originally intended and scheduled. By taking these steps of apologizing, reporting, re-educating on policies, and upholding autonomy, I can work to resolve the ethical issues presented by this situation.
My Response
In this situation, I would pull the pro-life nurse aside to express that her actions were unethical and unacceptable. I would apologize to the patient and assure her that confidentiality is taken very seriously at our clinic. The incident would be reported, and the nurse would be disciplined accordingly. I would also remind all staff about privacy policies and arrange for the patient’s abortion appointment to be kept. It is not our role as healthcare professionals to impose our own beliefs and values onto patients. Therefore, we must respect their autonomy in all cases.
Values Involved
This dilemma involves conflicting values between the pro-life position of the nurse versus the pro-choice beliefs of the patient. It also relates to values of privacy versus transparency and patient autonomy versus paternalism in healthcare (Varkey, 2020). My personal pro-choice values align with prioritizing the patient’s right to choose, but nurses must be careful not to let personal beliefs influence patient care. Upholding ethical principles should be the main guide.
ANA Code of Ethics
Provision 1.4 on patient autonomy supports my response – nurses have a duty to protect and support patients’ right to make their own choices. Provision 3.1 on patient privacy also reinforces the unacceptability of the nurse’s breach of confidentiality. Additionally, provision 6.3 states that nurses should not impose personal values on patients. These all relate directly to this case, where the nurse disregarded the patient’s autonomy and privacy by acting on her own pro-life values (Haddad & Geiger, 2023).
Conclusion
In conclusion, this case presents an ethical dilemma where a nurse’s personal values conflicted with her professional duty to respect patient autonomy and confidentiality. The situation can be resolved by emphasizing ethical principles and proper reporting to prevent future lapses and maintain the patient’s rights. Though we all have personal worldviews, nurses must separate these from unbiased, nonjudgmental care.
References
ANA. (2023, February 17). Why Ethics in Nursing Matters: Ethical Principles in Nursing. ANA. https://www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/nursing-excellence/ethics/why-ethics-in-nursing-matters/#:~:text=Ethical%20principles%20of%20nursing%20include
Cheraghi, R., Valizadeh, L., Zamanzadeh, V., Hassankhani, H., & Jafarzadeh, A. (2023). Clarification of ethical principle of the beneficence in nursing care: An integrative review. BMC Nursing, 22(1), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-023-01246-4
Haddad, L. M., & Geiger, R. A. (2023, August 14). Nursing ethical considerations. National Library of Medicine. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK526054/
Varkey, B. (2020). Principles of Clinical Ethics and Their Application to Practice. Medical Principles and Practice, 30(1), 17–28. https://doi.org/10.1159/000509119
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Question 
The focus of this discussion is the importance of ethics to the nursing profession. Nursing is a profession the public consistently rates at the top of the trustworthiness scales. Stop and think what would nursing be if it were not an ethically–based profession? How would care be rendered if each nurse gave care without the overarching belief that the patient is the center of interest? Who would receive care, and who would not? Would the same caliber of persons be in the profession? Many believe healthcare is on the brink of losing its focus as a profession providing altruistic care. Some may say that has already occurred. The ethical roots of nursing parallel those of other healthcare professions, yet it is said the ethical roots differentiate nursing from a pure business model.
Ethics in the Nursing Profession – Case One Discussion
Ethical principles include respect for persons, autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, fidelity, justice, and veracity. The ANA Code of discussion. Ethics is divided into provisions or sections of information. You will be using both of these resources significantly throughout this
The ANA Code of Ethics was last updated in 2015. It articulates principles that give today’s nurses concrete guidelines and support for taking an ethical stand. Within its parameters, the professional finds a backbone for what is right, but that cannot be easily put into words. The Code of Ethics gives justification for doing the right thing when many would rather walk down the path of least resistance. According to the ANA (2015) description of the provisions, “The first three describe the most fundamental values and beyond individual patient encounters” (p. xiii). commitments of the nurse, the next three address boundaries of duty and loyalty, and the last three address aspects of duties
So, we pose this question for thought, where would the profession be without an ethical basis?