Group Ethics Paper FINALLY
Everett Community College
Department of Nursing
Nursing 120
Ethical Issues: Titrating Pain Meds at EOL
By
Cara Gilbert
Dawn Kemp
Kimberly Miller
Mike Colton-Gores
Nadja Grisak
Yvonne Hellie
Many nurses have the opportunity to assist in the comfort of a patient, but questions arise when a nurse has a choice to administer a possible lethal dose to ease a patients suffering. By way of example, consider the following scenario. A 46-year-old Miss Jenson is admitted with metastatic cancer and is in tremendous amounts of pain. She has comfort care and pain medication orders. It is learned that she has taken nearly 10 mg/hour of morphine to keep her pain under control, an amount that could potentially cause respiratory depression in a healthy adult female. The patient’s respiratory rate has been between 10-14 most of the day, but is now 8 breaths per minute and is accompanied by moaning. The charge nurse says that Miss Jenson is to be given a 20 mg booster. Miss Jenson’s previous substance abuse has resulted in a high tolerance to morphine. The nurse is now faced with an ethical dilemma. Does she give the dose further compromising the patient’s status, possibly acting in a way that will result in the patient’s death?
To Dose:
Pain control is one of the most important goals of end-of-life care and the use of opioids for this purpose is extremely common. It is the nurse’s duty to alleviate pain, and according to Brennan et al. (2007), “The American Medical Association states that physicians have an obligation to relieve pain and suffering, and the American Nurses Association's position is that nursing encompasses […] the alleviation of suffering […]”.If a nurse does not treat pain, it is poor practice that can result in many confrontational effects, such as the patient may refuse care and stop interacting with caregivers. It is the ethical duty of nurses to practice beneficence towards patients and to relieve their pain, and by the principles of nonmaleficence
Department of Nursing
Nursing 120
Ethical Issues: Titrating Pain Meds at EOL
By
Cara Gilbert
Dawn Kemp
Kimberly Miller
Mike Colton-Gores
Nadja Grisak
Yvonne Hellie
Many nurses have the opportunity to assist in the comfort of a patient, but questions arise when a nurse has a choice to administer a possible lethal dose to ease a patients suffering. By way of example, consider the following scenario. A 46-year-old Miss Jenson is admitted with metastatic cancer and is in tremendous amounts of pain. She has comfort care and pain medication orders. It is learned that she has taken nearly 10 mg/hour of morphine to keep her pain under control, an amount that could potentially cause respiratory depression in a healthy adult female. The patient’s respiratory rate has been between 10-14 most of the day, but is now 8 breaths per minute and is accompanied by moaning. The charge nurse says that Miss Jenson is to be given a 20 mg booster. Miss Jenson’s previous substance abuse has resulted in a high tolerance to morphine. The nurse is now faced with an ethical dilemma. Does she give the dose further compromising the patient’s status, possibly acting in a way that will result in the patient’s death?
To Dose:
Pain control is one of the most important goals of end-of-life care and the use of opioids for this purpose is extremely common. It is the nurse’s duty to alleviate pain, and according to Brennan et al. (2007), “The American Medical Association states that physicians have an obligation to relieve pain and suffering, and the American Nurses Association's position is that nursing encompasses […] the alleviation of suffering […]”.If a nurse does not treat pain, it is poor practice that can result in many confrontational effects, such as the patient may refuse care and stop interacting with caregivers. It is the ethical duty of nurses to practice beneficence towards patients and to relieve their pain, and by the principles of nonmaleficence