Health Rights and Responsibilities
HSM542
September 16, 2012
I. Identification The dilemma is that Mrs. Margie Whitson a patient at Golden Oaks Rehabilitation Center is going through some very hard times after just loosing her son William about a week ago. She has also had to deal with loosing her husband in the past 5 years leading up to this. She is also reflecting back to when she lost her first son to a motor vehicle accident. Margie is having a very difficult time taking this all in and now feels all alone and wants the one and only thing keeping her alive removed. Margie suffered a heart attack 2 years ago that almost took her life and she had to have an electronic pacemaker implanted. The pacemaker is what is keeping her alive by keeping her heart rhythm at a 100% pace. Without the pacemaker she would not be able to live. Now that all of her family is gone she is requesting that her pacemaker be removed so that she can pass and go on to be with her family because she now feels like she has nothing to live for anymore. She has talked to the Rehabilitation Center Administrator Cindy Mackin and has told her what she wants to happen and has requested her to call Dr. Vijay who was the Cardiologist Surgeon who placed the pacemaker in her to remove it. Morals are principles of right and wrong in behavior, expressing or teaching a conception of right behavior, conforming to a standard of right behavior, sanctioned by or operative on one’s conscience or ethical judgment, and capable of right and wrong action. (Merriam-Webster) According to our book the moral principles of ethics that are involved in removing Margie’s pacemaker are:
• Beneficence- is the principle of doing good, demonstrating kindness, showing compassion, and helping others.
• Nonmaleficence- is an ethical principle that requires caregivers to avoid causing patients harm.
• Justice- is the
References: Legal Aspects of Health Care Administration/George D. Pozgar.-11th ed.p.cm Moral. Retrieved from: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/moral