Universal Right to Healthcare and Discrimination

Discuss about the Codes of Professional Conduct and Ethics.

In the contemporary society, ethical issues have become increasingly taught and treated with great concern by the public, governments and other agencies (Crowden, 2010). It is very important for a nurse or any healthcare professional to engage in practices that are professional and ethical. The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia has outlined a code of professional conduct for nurses in Australia. The code sets the minimum required of the nurse in as far as professionalism is concerned. In doing so, the board ensures that the nurses observe ethical issues when offering care. In the current healthcare environment, there have been great improvement in care provisional due to several factors such as technological advancement (Cherry and Jacob, 2016). With the improvements, there has also been an increase in the number of ethical issues. These presents themselves in several forms and mainly as ethical dilemmas. In this essay, the case of Amos is going to be analysed. The ethical issues are going to be identified and analysed. In addition, recommendations for professional practice will be outlined.

Health care is a human right. Every person is entitled to the highest attainable physical and mental wellbeing (Broome, Dougherty, Freda, Kearney and Baggs, 2010). This is one of the rights of human beings that seems to have been denied in the case of Amos. There is also the issue of discrimination. Whereas all the students who visited the health facility needed medical attention, some like Amos were sent away without treatment. Only those who resided in the school received treatment. This is discrimination that does not seem to involve clinical reasoning. Although the medical supplies were limited, it is not justifiable to send a sick person away without treatment. Thirdly, there seems to be contempt for human dignity in the manner that those not residing in the school were treated. Despite suffering from cholera, they were sent away without any form of intervention. In fact, some like Amos beg for treatment but their plea falls on deaf years. The result is death. It is a high form of disrespect for human dignity and individuality and is highly uncalled for.

Amos exhibited signs and symptoms of cholera. Despite the debilitating effects of disease condition when left untreated, he is sent home without any intervention. He even pleads with the health professionals (nurse and doctor) that he is a student of the school even though not a boarder. Human dignity implies the respect for every person and their individuality. It is a phenomenon that arises from the fact that man is the only social animal endowed with reason (Pera, 2011). Therefore, a human being appreciates and treasures the life of a human more than that of any other species. The concept of human dignity should be valued very much in nursing to establish a helping nurse-patient/client relationship (Seedhouse, 2008). The goal should be to provide and maintain the highest attainable physical and mental wellbeing. It appears that he dignity of Amos was not put into consideration. This led to the regrettable eventuality of death.

Human Dignity and Non-maleficence

Every human being has a right to the highest attainable physical and mental wellbeing (Freeman, 2017). It follows that if an individual visit a healthcare facility, they have a right to be attended to. The nurse should be on the frontline of making sure that the best quality of care is offered to any patient who visits the healthcare facility (Garrett, 2009). Although sometimes the healthcare professionals are faced with ethical dilemmas, they should endeavour to ensure that their moves are geared towards this goal (Runciman, Merry and Walton, 2017). Amos had this right too. It is evident that the healthcare professionals at the facility could have done better to take care of him. In keeping consistent with this right, they would have adopted a mechanism to curb the crisis such as educating the children on how to prevent complications or refer them to another facility if possible. If left untreated, cholera kills very fast and sending Amos home was not a wise idea. It was not geared towards attaining of the highest possible physical and mental wellbeing. From these observations, one could conclude that the move to send him home was a breach of human rights.

The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia has outlined a code for professional conduct for nurses in Australia. The aim of this code is to provide the nurses with the minimum expected of them in rendering of services (Nursing and Council, 2008). The code requires nurses to respect the dignity, ethnicity, personal values and beliefs, and the culture of both those who are receiving treatment and their colleagues. As discussed earlier, the dignity of Amos and his colleagues who were not staying at school was highly disregarded. This amounts to breach of the of the professional code of conducts. It is not only unprofessional but unethical. In addition to the requirement stated above, the code also require that nurses practise both reflectively and ethically. Considering that the code outlines the bare minimum expected of a nurse, the nurse who sent Amos home has undeniably failed to meet the expectations that the board would have for her as a nurse. In the case of Australian capital, this code is also part of legislation and therefore should be abided by.

There are four principles of healthcare ethics. These are autonomy, justice, beneficence and non-maleficence (Ulrich et al, 2010). The principle of non-maleficence implies that the overall actions and decisions of the healthcare professional should not lead to harm (Smith, 2018). It seems that this principle was not considered/upheld in the case of Amos. The result of sending him home would have been considered before deciding to send him. It is very likely that if clinical reasoning was involved, then it would have been identified that such a move could potentially lead to death (harm). If it was considered and ignored, then it was a very unethical thing to do since the aim should be to cause no harm.

Code of Professional Conduct for Nurses in Australia

It is important to appreciate the fact that sometimes there are ethical dilemmas that may rise in the health care field during the process of offering care. This implies that a healthcare professional may find themselves in a situation where it is not easy to decide due to ethical considerations. According to Casterlé, Dierckx, Izumi, Godfrey, and Denhaerynck, (2008), it is very important to have a broad view of the situation and consider what might happen in the end while in such circumstances.

In Amos’ case, the health professionals at the facility realized that the medication would not be enough for all the students. They therefore decided to treat only those who were boarding. It would have been more considerate of them if they tried some other intervention methods rather than sending some students home untreated. For instance, they should have educated the students and/or their guardians on protective measures to avoid worsening of the disease condition. Education could cover such information as boiling drinking water, washing hands with soap and water and maintaining general sanitation. This would most probably help avoid complications and new cases. Another strategy would have been finding for quick means of referral to other healthcare facilities. For instance, a van such as ambulance could be used to transport some of the student to another healthcare facility. In the absence of an ambulance, the school bus/van could be used for the same purpose. Those are some of the strategies that could probably have avoided the death of Amos.

Conclusion

Ethical considerations are very important in the contemporary society. Be it in the healthcare or the business and other environments, the considerations are more important now than they have ever been in history. There are several ethical issues in the case of Amos. These include violation of the universal human right for entitlement to the highest attainable physical and mental wellbeing, being discriminated against and not being accorded respect and dignity as a human being. There was also discrimination in deciding to treat some of the students while leaving others unattended. The principle of non-maleficence requires that the overall actions and decisions of a healthcare professional lead to no harm. This principle was not held as evidenced by death of Amos. It would probably have been a better move to involve some interventions rather than just sending Amos home without treatment. These interventions include education on ways of preventing cholera and its effects. Another way would have been referrals to the other nearby health facilities. An ambulance could be used to transport the students. In its absence, the school bus/van could be used for the same purpose.

References

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Casterlé, D., Dierckx, B., Izumi, S., Godfrey, N. S., & Denhaerynck, K. (2008). Nurses’ responses to ethical dilemmas in nursing practice: meta?analysis. Journal of advanced nursing, 63(6), 540-549.

Cherry, B., & Jacob, S. R. (2016). Contemporary nursing: Issues, trends, & management. Elsevier Health Sciences.

Crowden, A. (2010). Virtue ethics and rural professional healthcare roles. Rural Society, 20(1), 64-75.

Freeman, M. (2017). Human rights. John Wiley & Sons.

Garrett, T. M. (2009). Health care ethics: Principles and problems.

Nursing, A., & Council, M. (2008). Codes of Professional Conduct & Ethics for Nurses & Midwives in Australia 2008. Nurses Board of South Australia.

Pera, S. A. (2011). Ethics in healthcare. Juta and Company Ltd.

Runciman, B., Merry, A., & Walton, M. (2017). Safety and ethics in healthcare: a guide to getting it right. CRC Press.

Seedhouse, D. (2008). Ethics: the heart of health care. John Wiley & Sons.

Smith, R. (2018). International Human Rights Law. Oxford University Press.

Ulrich, C. M., Taylor, C., Soeken, K., O’Donnell, P., Farrar, A., Danis, M., & Grady, C. (2010). Everyday ethics: ethical issues and stress in nursing practice. Journal of advanced nursing, 66(11), 2510-2519.