Ethical Issues and Principles of Nursing Essay PDF

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Running head: ETHICAL ISSUES AND PRINCIPLES OF NURSING

Ethical Issues and Principles of Nursing Juana Rosa Ramirez Nova Southeastern University September 12, 2019

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ETHICAL ISSUES AND PRINCIPLES OF NURSING Ethical Issues and Principles of Nursing Effective and efficient service delivery is a requirement in all workplaces for the realization of objectives. Consequently, sound morals, ethical principles, professionalism, and justice for all are essential virtues necessary in all professional fields, especially in healthcare fraternity to enhance quality services and wellness. Failure to comply with professional codes, laws, rules, regulations, and ethical principles usually lead to conflicts in the workplace, as witnessed in the film, The Cider House Rules. This is an American drama movie Produced by Richard N. Gladstein, directed by Lasse Hallström and screenplay done by John Irving in the year 1999 (The Cider House Rules, 1999). The theme of the movie revolves around abortion, a controversial social and legal issue in the society alongside other social ills, namely deceit, forgery, romance, and adultery. The theme is brought to the fore via Homer Wells, an orphaned male juvenile and a medical doctor, Wilbur Larch who owned Maine orphanage and helped females procure illegal abortion during the Second World War era. Summary of The Cider House Rules Film This film dwells more around controversial social and legal issues, especially deceit and forgery, romance and adultery, with abortion conspicuously taking center stage. Doctor Larch gave an apprentice training concerning obstetrics and abortion to the orphaned juvenile, Homer so that he could succeed him when he retires. Nevertheless, he showed disinterest in procuring an abortion. He, therefore, embraced training but hesitant to perform illegal abortions on moral and ethical grounds. This prompted him to leave Maine orphanage to pursue other areas of interest and went with a couple of Wally, a pilot on leave and his wife Candy who were among doctor Larch’s clients. Homer got a job in the Worthington family apple orchard owned by

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Wally’s mother and picked orchards with other immigrant colleagues including Arthur and his daughter, Rose and resided in the Cider House estate in Worthington (The Cider House Rules, 1999). On Wally’s resumption of duty in Burma, Homer and Candy developed intimate relations. On the other hand, Arthur went out of his senses, raped his own daughter Rose, conceived her, and planned illegal abortion with the assistance of Homer before she stabbed her father. Shortly afterward, Wally returned from Burma in a paraplegic state and Candy had to assist him to cope, and this ended their intimate relations with Homer’s return to the orphanage. He learned about Doctor Larch’s demise and returned to a rousing welcome, and succeeded him. Ethical Issues in The Cider House Rules Film and Impact on Nursing Profession A number of morally and ethically inclined issues emerge in the film, which includes romance and adultery, deceit and forgery, grievous bodily harm, and abortion, which indeed stands out above the rest. Deceit and forgery come out through doctor Larch when he faked Homer’s health condition and recorded to exempt him from participating in the Second World War to serve in the orphanage (Byrd & Winkelstein, 2014). Similarly, deceit equally comes in through Arthur after his stabbing incident when he advised Homer and another worker to tell law enforcers that his death resulted from suicide to conceal the root cause and all these are illadvised, immoral and unethical in healthcare. Aside from that is grievous bodily harm and abortion as prominent ethical issues witnessed in the film. Rose stabbed his father after an unexpected rape and conception ordeal, and this amounted to physical bodily harm, which is unethical and may compromise healthcare delivery. On the other hand, doctor Larch conducted illegal abortions in the orphanage as depicted through Candy, and all these practices amount to ethical issues before the healthcare

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fraternity (Melby et al., 2016). On top of that are romance and adultery. When Wally moved to Burma after the end of his leave, his wife, Candy and Homer grew intimate, and this is against morals, ethics principles and professionalism of healthcare provision. These ethical issues have a great impact on nursing and therefore conforming to ethics, morals, and professionalism is necessary for improved quality of care and wellness (Lepping, Palmstierna & Raveesh, 2016). Training someone without requisite qualifications and in the wrong place may lower quality standards. Similarly, causing harm to others alongside forgery and deceit may bear legal consequences on practitioners aside from compromising the quality of care. Ethical Principles in Healthcare To instill sanity, inculcate moral ethics and professionalism among the workforce, professional codes and ethical principles exist to advance a similar agenda. They include autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence, and justice for all. The ethical principle of autonomy largely advocates for self-determination (Lepping et al., 2016). In other words, it recommends respect for decisions made by adult patients within the decision-making capacity concerning treatment as portrayed between Candy and Doctor Larch in the film. On top of that, beneficence is a morally inclined ethical principle, which aims at ensuring that actions of healthcare providers focus more on conferring maximum benefits to clients in a balanced manner and that explains why doctor Larch conducted abortions. It balances perceived benefits and risks by health providers, especially nurses, to avoid causing unnecessary harm. Additionally, the ethical principle of non-maleficence holds and instills a belief that health providers should not either inflict or expose patients to harm or risks that may compromise quality care (Melby et al., 2016). For instance, refraining from killing, inflicting

ETHICAL ISSUES AND PRINCIPLES OF NURSING pain, or suffering to clients’ is in the spirit of non-maleficence as depicted in the movie through abortion. On the other hand, the ethical principle of justice tends to advocate for equitable distribution of benefits, costs, and resources to all patients. In other words, it focuses on indiscriminate distribution or fair allocation of resources and benefits to all patients or in a just manner. For instance, hiring of Homer to replace Doctor Larch is in contravention of this principle since it happened irregularly. Comparison of Illegal Abortion in the Movie to Current Legal and Ethical Issues Ethical issues and principles have been in existence for a considerably long period for purposes of harmonious relations and enhancement of quality care. In the movie, illegal abortion being the ethical issue seemed to infringe on social and legal norms, and that was why doctors conducted it secretly (Byrd & Winkelstein, 2014). Consequently, open procurement of the same might attract punitive legal repercussions. Today that is not the case since certain legislations provide for safe procurement of abortion in line with respect to patients’ rights as enshrined in the ethical principle of autonomy. An expectant mother may today terminate a pregnancy for her reasons aside from health complications. In other words, in the spirit of the ethical principle of beneficence, safe abortion is permissible to all mothers. Conclusion Order and sanity are necessary for the society, especially in the realm of healthcare for purposes of improved quality of care as well as wellness of patients and society in general. It is in line with the same that professional codes of conduct alongside ethical principles exist to help with regulation. Perhaps that is the reason why the film, The Cider House Rules, dwells more on

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ETHICAL ISSUES AND PRINCIPLES OF NURSING matters of ethics and principles as highlighted above through the currently controversial subject, abortion.

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References Byrd, G. D., & Winkelstein, P. (2014). A comparative analysis of moral principles and behavioral norms in eight ethical codes relevant to health sciences librarianship, medical informatics, and the health professions. Journal of the Medical Library Association: JMLA, 102(4), 247. Lepping, P., Palmstierna, T., & Raveesh, B. N. (2016). Paternalism v. autonomy–are we barking up the wrong tree?. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 209(2), 95-96. Melby, M. K., Loh, L. C., Evert, J., Prater, C., Lin, H., & Khan, O. A. (2016). Beyond medical “missions” to impact-driven short-term experiences in global health (STEGHs): ethical principles to optimize community benefit and learner experience. Academic Medicine, 91(5), 633-638. The Cider House Rules. (1999). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=xWpOP9NoaM8...