A Case Study Of Autonomy And Fidelity In Nursing

Taking away an individual’s autonomy that is above the age of eighteen is an unacceptable decision, even when suffering constant, extreme pain. If there is one thing sacred about medical dilemmas, it is the right of autonomy. Open and honest communication between health care providers, nurses, and patients is necessary when discussing effective care.
The most critical role of a nurse is as a patient advocate. In this case study, Carolyn is a twenty-one year old female who wants to know what is happening to her, while her mother wants to keep her daughter uninformed of the situation at hand. In the Code of Ethics, Provision 3, it states, “The nurse promotes, advocates for, and strives to protect the health, safety, and rights of the patient”
Fidelity requires loyalty, truthfulness, advocacy and dedication to the patients (American Nurses Association, p.2). Health care officials have to answer questions, but do not have to offer any additional information for which a patient has not asked about. Nurse A exemplifies fidelity in believing Carolyn deserves the right to know the truth, withholding information results in a patient imagining a worse condition and losing hope with their condition. The twenty-one year old female has reached the point of a legal adult, an individual who can make decisions as an independent. In clinical situations, a nurse is to respect an individual’s autonomy, whether it be furthering treatment or wanting to know what is happening, and to do good to and for that patient, leading us to beneficence. Beneficence is at the center of the nursing practice. We are to prevent harm to the patient and promote good. With the ethical relativism theory, it discusses the morality of a cultural norm of believing whether an act is moral or not (American Nurses Association, p. 3). The mother knows that she is the mother of this patient, and usually what she says
In this situation, I believe it is appropriate to ask the patient what she thinks is going on. But first, I would ask for a conference with the health care provider and discuss what the family has asked. We could create a strategy together while compromising with the family, validating their concerns about the patient having the right to know, or ask the patient if she would like the results explained to her and the family. In this time of discussion, we want to encourage the mother to compromise. Some patients know more than what others think they do. If a patient wants to understand what is going on, they have a right to know his or her diagnosis for two main ethical reasons: it is the patient’s information, not anyone else’s; there will always be additional decisions to make, no matter the diagnosis. Our primary commitment is to the