Legal and Ethical Issues in Aging CASE:

Legal and Ethical Issues in Aging CASE: An 86-year-old widow with three adult children is hospitalized with pneumonia. Despite antibiotics and supportive care, the patient’s pneumonia progresses, and she develops hypoxemia and delirium. The patient’s clinician recommends mechanical ventilation. Her advanced directive identifies her youngest child, a nurse, as her surrogate decision-maker. Ethical Principles When applying the ethical principles of Beneficence and nonmaleficence in this case scenario, the clinicians have acted to provide better treatment while causing no harm to the patient. The principle of Beneficence mandates that clinicians act in the best interests of their patients (Fromme, 2022). Moreover, the principle of nonmaleficence is not to harm the patient. When formulating a treatment plan, the provider must weigh the treatment goals with the risks of adverse outcomes. (Zorowitz, 2022). In this scenario, it is evident that despite supportive interventions, pneumonia worsens, and mechanical ventilation has now been recommended as the best intervention to prevent further decline. The principle of justice highlights the importance of treating everyone fairly. In the field of health care, it can collaborate with the provision of services, treatment options or involvement of different specialities (Pietilä et al., 2019). Analyzing the principle of justice in this case vignette, the patient has been given appropriate treatment options like antibiotics and other supportive care before recommending mechanical ventilation. Autonomy is another essential principle regarding patient- care and honouring a patient’s wishes. The basic concept identifies a patient’s moral need to direct their medical care and be given adequate information to make those decisions (Walker, 2008). In this case scenario, the autonomy principle was not illustrated. There was no mention of what the patient’s wishes were prior to the decline, and it was not indicated if what the patient wants was being honored. Medical Indication Making medical decisions can be challenging. All medical indications are considered, whether the condition, vital signs, or any other symptom warrants a course of action (Jonsen et al., 2015). In this case, the patient’s worsening pneumonia, hypoxemia, and delirium all lead the healthcare team to recommend mechanical ventilation. Patient Preferences It is essential always to involve patients in treatment plans and respect their wishes. In this case, the patient is hypoxic and delirious, affecting her decision-making capacity. The patient has a surrogate. According to Sabatino (2022), all surrogate decision-makers should follow and express the wishes of the adult person and consider the person’s values if known. There is no information on the patient’s preferences before the decline. Based on her daughter’s role as a surrogate decision-maker, she must act based on the patient’s interests. Contextual Features Many areas that can affect ethical decisions include family, religious, professional, cultural, financial, and legal issues (Jonsen et al., 2021) that can directly affect a patient’s outcome. In this scenario, those areas are not stated, but addressing patients’ wishes, like religious, cultural, or financial issues in the advance directive, should be considered for making final decisions. Quality of Life When planning treatment and interventions, it is essential to consider how the treatment will affect the patient’s quality of life. One must consider ethical principles like nonmaleficence; as before, benefits and risks must be weighed. Dr Teven and Dr Gottlieb (2018) state that quality of life is subjective; therefore, making medical decisions based on this can be challenging. In this case, the medical team’s mechanical ventilation recommendation will not negatively affect the patient’s quality of life. Ethical/Legal Issues Honouring a patient’s request may sound simple, but it can be challenging, especially if the patient can no longer decide. In this case, the patient has an advance directive and a surrogate decision-maker. However, conflicts are inevitable, especially if the patient fails to make her wishes known to the surrogate before the decline. The surrogate might impose what the patient wants instead of making decisions based solely on the patient’s interest. Another problem is if the patient’s family disagree with the surrogate’s decisions. If a decision cannot be made on time, it could affect the treatment plan and may put the patient at risk. As healthcare providers, we can help by ensuring that all parties remain informed. This entails discussing with the family and surrogate the condition of the patient, the available treatments, and the risk involved (Relias Media, 2017).

******CLICK ORDER NOW BELOW AND OUR WRITERS WILL WRITE AN ANSWER TO THIS ASSIGNMENT OR ANY OTHER ASSIGNMENT, DISCUSSION, ESSAY, HOMEWORK OR QUESTION YOU MAY HAVE. OUR PAPERS ARE PLAGIARISM FREE*******."