Lesson 3- Ethics

This week in class and through on line assignments we learned about ethics. This topic is actually quite frustrating for me because it seems that there is never an end to the debates. There will ALWAYS be different views and there is no right or wrong answer. The case study described a little girl who was dying of HIV. Her grandmother did not tell her she had HIV or that she was dying. To respect the many laws in healthcare, her nurses were not able to tell her that she was dying. This is a hard case because as nurses we are not allowed to make this decision, even if we disagree.
In the movie "My Sister's Keeper," a mother is desperately trying to save her daughter who has leukemia. She has another child (younger) that can donate blood, organs etc to her sister and is expected to do so. The child with leukemia wants to die and the parents can not see that. They do everything in their power to keep her alive against her own will. As a mother, I can probably say that I would do the same thing. I would do ANYTHING to keep my child alive. In this case the parents eventually learn how to cope with the situation and allow the treatments to end. As healthcare workers, we need to be careful to keep our opinions to ourselves when necessary. If we feel strongly enough about something we do not have to do it. Even if it means getting fired, I would rather have a clean conscience than be forced to do something I feel is unethical.