Ethical Issues In Nursing
In the last four decades, the role of registered nurses has evolved from that of a passive, servile employee to that of an assertive, decisive healthcare provider. Today, registered nurses monitor complex physiological data, operate sophisticated lifesaving equipment, coordinate the delivery of numerous patient services, and administer high costly healthcare programmes (Weld and Garmon Bibb 2009).
Due to the rapid expansion in the scope of nursing care and knowledge, nursing staff face greater responsibilities and require increasingly more skills; such is the importance of nursing law and ethics. The pace of change of law in this area is considerable as the role of the nurse is becoming more diverse. The pressure to keep up to date not …show more content…
This case has many similarities of the Michael Shine Case. Staff nurse Bernadette Sullivan was a whistleblower who stayed true to the ethic of patient care and disclosed Dr. Shine’s shocking malpractice. Recent enquires into problem cases like these have brought to light, the importance of taking stock of what is to be learned from these incidents. As nurses, we are bound by legislation for one main purpose- public/patient protection. To fulfil our duty of care, we must continue to act as patient advocate.
The culture in healthcare has transformed in recent years. Issues concerning health care and the law are rarely far from the headlines. The public are more informed about their health and have become very smart and astute of the differences between poor health service and good health service, since the publication of various malpractice cases (Chandra et al. 2009).
Causation
Causation is another element used to establish negligence. If a breach of care has been established, the courts then have to determine the degree of foreseeable risk together, with the likelihood of any harm resulting as a consequence (Van Dokkum …show more content…
Claims of negligence have surged since the Landmark Ryan Case in Ireland. Relatives of Valentine Ryan were more interested in setting a precedent than being awarded damages. Ryan was the first person to have MRSA attributed as causing his death. In November 2006 Myra Cullinane, a Cork coroner, ruled that his death was due to hospital-acquired infection. His family initially began a High Court case, but then opted to sue the health minister, the HSE and the hospital involved through the circuit court for wrongful death caused by medical negligence (Tighe
Due to the rapid expansion in the scope of nursing care and knowledge, nursing staff face greater responsibilities and require increasingly more skills; such is the importance of nursing law and ethics. The pace of change of law in this area is considerable as the role of the nurse is becoming more diverse. The pressure to keep up to date not …show more content…
This case has many similarities of the Michael Shine Case. Staff nurse Bernadette Sullivan was a whistleblower who stayed true to the ethic of patient care and disclosed Dr. Shine’s shocking malpractice. Recent enquires into problem cases like these have brought to light, the importance of taking stock of what is to be learned from these incidents. As nurses, we are bound by legislation for one main purpose- public/patient protection. To fulfil our duty of care, we must continue to act as patient advocate.
The culture in healthcare has transformed in recent years. Issues concerning health care and the law are rarely far from the headlines. The public are more informed about their health and have become very smart and astute of the differences between poor health service and good health service, since the publication of various malpractice cases (Chandra et al. 2009).
Causation
Causation is another element used to establish negligence. If a breach of care has been established, the courts then have to determine the degree of foreseeable risk together, with the likelihood of any harm resulting as a consequence (Van Dokkum …show more content…
Claims of negligence have surged since the Landmark Ryan Case in Ireland. Relatives of Valentine Ryan were more interested in setting a precedent than being awarded damages. Ryan was the first person to have MRSA attributed as causing his death. In November 2006 Myra Cullinane, a Cork coroner, ruled that his death was due to hospital-acquired infection. His family initially began a High Court case, but then opted to sue the health minister, the HSE and the hospital involved through the circuit court for wrongful death caused by medical negligence (Tighe