Case study:
You are the only staff nurse working at a rural health clinic. There
are no other healthcare clinics within two hours. The provider at the clinic
provides a wide range of care and procedures, including elective abortions. A
patient presents to the clinic 13 weeks pregnant and requesting an elective
abortion. The provider requests that you assist with this procedure.
Use the case above to
answer the following questions:
Type your answers into the text
boxes below. The box will expand as you type.
What are your underlying personal beliefs as they relate to
this case? You do not need to defend your beliefs – this is more to help you
reflect on what your moral and ethical beliefs are and how they relate to
patient care.
Based on your answer above, how do you proceed? If you find that
you are ethically or morally opposed to abortion, what other options might you
find to help your patient receive care? How would you discuss this with your
patient in a way that is neutral and unbiased? Make sure to reference the seven
ethical principles for decision making and the ANA code of ethics to support
your answers.
What if the woman then shared with you that she had recently learned
she was a carrier of a genetic disorder that would leave her debilitated and
likely to die in her 40s to 50s, and that her child had a 50% chance of
inheriting the disease as well (for example, Huntington’s disease)? This is the
reason she wishes to proceed with abortion – at best, she will likely leave her
child motherless at a fairly young age. Her child will watch her lose her
mental and physical faculties. At worst, her child will also be a carrier of
this disease, and will face these same choices in the future.
Again consider your underlying moral and ethical beliefs. Do
you find that your plan of action changes based on the newly disclosed
information? Why or why not? Again, make sure to reference the seven ethical
principles for decision making and the ANA code of ethics to support your
answers.
References
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into the box below. The box will expand as you type.
