Nursing Ethical Dilemma

I became aware of this medical- ethical dilemma through my clinical assignment in pediatrics. My patient was a 3 month old female who was born dead. Apparently the mother suffered Placenta Abruptio, it is unknown how long the fetus suffered with hypoxia before birth. Nurses claim this infant was born dead. CPR was performed for more than 15 minutes before the heart started. Needless to say the baby was then placed on life support. A determination was made that the infant is brain dead. The major dilemma is that the Mother never returned to the hospital and is considered missing in action. Consequently leaving the infant without a guardian or family member to speak on her behave regarding whether to withdraw the life support and possibly
These would be in provision 1.3, where it states, “Nurses act as advocates for the patient and family, assessing the responsibility and appropriate use of life-sustaining care in accordance with the wishes of the patient and family (Slate, 2015).” Since it has been reported there is no family involvement I would verify the attempts made so far. Furthermore this ANA code 1.3 claims, “The invaluable experience of nurses in the care at the end of life should be used to assist education, research, practice and the development of policies (Slate, 2015).” As the infants nurse advocate I would find out what policies and procedures are presently in place for this complicated case. Educating myself on what policies need to be clarified and or revised to make clearer more logical and ethical decisions in this case. Another provision in the ANA Code of ethics that applies would be 2.3, which states “Collaboration is not just cooperation (Slate, 2015).” “Collaboration is the concentrated effort of multiple members of the healthcare team in order to achieve a desired outcome (Slate, 2015).” This is relevant because this case needs a desired outcome. Another important statement in this provisions says, “Nurses should advocate for the participation of all relevant members of the health care team, and ascertain that all vital questions are asked and that necessary information for informed
“1. Irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions or 2. Irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brain stem ("What is the Uniform Declaration of Death Act or UDDA," 2015).” The UDDA states that 50 states recognize brain death to be legally dead. Further evidence on brain death is explained in Florida Statutes 382.009 which state “For legal and medical purposes, where respiratory and circulatory functions are maintained by artificial means of support so as to preclude a determination that these functions has ceased, the occurrence of death may be determined where there is irreversible cessation of functioning of the entire brain, including the brain stem ("Statutes & Constitution: View Statutes: Online Sunshine," 2015).” Most of the time patients have advanced directives that dictate exactly what they want done as far as medical care and more times than not, patient do not want to sustain their life if brain death has occurred. If no directives, the next of kin would make the choice, as they know what their loved one would have wanted. Sometimes the patient is kept on life support only to harvest organs for