Providing Ethical Care For Dying Patients Essay - 1693 Words

Providing Ethical Care for Dying Patients 11/10/15 Introduction I t is important that end of life care is delivered in respect of patients Autonomy, Beneficence, and in a Truthful way. In what follows I argue that we as nurses need to fulfill obligation to support and assist the dying patient and his family’s right to self-determination as it relates to end of life care. I believe that we have made headway but still have much to achieve. Education and research in these areas by and for health care workers and the general population would do much to improve the quality of end of life care. Exposition The ethical issues that we have had a hard time fulfilling are central to autonomy, beneficence and truth telling. The ANA recognizes autonomy as an agreement to respect another’s right to self-determine a course of action, support of independent decision making. In 1990 the Patient Self Determination Act was passed by the United States Congress this act stated that competent people could make their wishes known regarding what they wanted in their end of life experience when they were possibly not competent. Also included in this Act is the durable power of attorney, which designates a competent person to assist in making end of life decisions when the induvial was no longer competent. (Beauchamp, 2009) Beneficence: compassion, taking positive action to help others, desire to do good; core principle of patient advocacy. (Beauchamp, 2009) Truth telling is fundamentalShow MoreRelatedAdvocacy And It s Role Of Cultural Diversity920 Words   |  4 PagesTabytha Balash Ohio University  Advocacy And It’s Role In Cultural Diversity Facing ethical dilemma’s is nothing new to nursing. As our society becomes more culturally diverse, cultural ethical dilemmas will become more common. 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