ESSAY: Brain Death Scenrios

Write a 1,250-1,500 word paper in which you address the ethical andlegal application in the following scenario:

Scenario: You are a hospital administratorwho has been told by your ICU unit director of a patient in the unitwho has suffered serious brain damage from a car accident 2 days agoand is currently intubated. The patient is 45 years old but does notcurrently meet the criteria for complete brain death as defined byArizona state legislature “4-1107. Determination of Death andStatus; Rules.” The spouse of the patient has consulted with theattending physician. The attending physician informed the spouse thatthe patient could survive but would likely require life support. Halfof the family is insisting that the patient “wouldn’t want tolive this way” and the other half is accusing the other familymembers of wanting to “kill” the patient. Some allegationshave been raised about a substantial inheritance for some familymembers upon the patient’s death. The battle is becoming intense, andit is beginning to disrupt the medical and nursing staff.
1.Describe the medical care issues involved in thissituation.
2.Explain which laws and regulations apply to thissituation. How would you interpret these laws and regulations whenmaking a decision?
3.Describe the ethical issues that mayarise based on your decision as the administrator.
4.Explainhow you can ensure appropriate implementation of supporting policiesand procedures in order to ensure ethical integrity.
5.Whatpolicies and procedures would you consider when making yourdecision? How would you ensure these procedures were followedcorrectly?
6.What resources could you use to support yourdecision?

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APAStyle Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior tobeginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations forsuccessful completion.

You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. Please referto the directions in the Student Success Center.

This assignment assesses the following programmatic competencies:

MPA 4.4: Explain how laws and regulations areinterpreted and applied by health care agencies in the delivery ofhealth care.

MBA 5.3: Evaluate ethical challenges and ensure appropriateimplementation of supporting policies and procedures in order toensure ethical integrity.

ANSWER

Brain Death Scenario

The quest to legalize euthanasia is among the most ethical debates in contemporary society, akin, during its time, the discussion over decriminalizing abortion during the 1960s (Cholbi & Varelius, 2015).  Several ethical scholars and moralists have argued against euthanasia. In the US and indeed the world over, when people are terminally ill or faced with extreme old age, they tend to give up on life and often desire for physician-ended deaths to relieve them of pain. Physician-assisted suicide is an intentional killing of patients who are at terminal stages of chronic illnesses or have been diagnosed with illnesses and conditions that cannot be treated and are experiencing severe…

Medical Care Issues

Decisions regarding medical treatment that pose consequences for the nature and timing of an individual’s death elicit strong emotions among both the public and health professionals while raising complex legal and ethical matters for all concerned (Van den Block, 2009). According to Gorsuch (2009), the decision is usually a source of conflict between the patient’s family and health professionals, or at times, between health professionals in a given healthcare setting. The prescribed case demonstrates the challenges of decision making regarding the need for continued treatment after a near-fatal accident. The family members are divided on, which is the best course of action. Legal and ethical dilemmas emerge when a perceived differing duty to the patient exists, for example, that between the responsibility to preserve life and that o…

Laws and Regulations Applicable to the Situation

            In the United States, there are five states that have legalized euthanasia. However, Arizona is not one of such states and hence the decision making in the provided case scenario will have to be made carefully to avoid performing illegalities. However, the laws in the state have extensive provisions on the effect of withholding or withdrawing life support procedures. The state does allow surrogates and guardians to withhold life support in the event that the patient is not able to independently survive (Player, 2018). The case provided in the scenario fits this position as the patient, according to the physician may survive, but will need life support. In the scenario, the family is divided on whether to withhold life support or note. The guiding regulation in such a scenario is that the individual to make the ultimate …

Ethical Issues that May Arise

Modern medical practice is based on respecting the right of competent patients to refuse interventions depending on their judgment of the benefits and burdens of the said interventions (Shibata, 2017). Some patients may seek that the life-sustaining treatments are withdrawn after performing a cost-benefit analysis of the medical interventions. On other occasions, as is in the present case, the patient may not be competent, but a competent surrogate or proxy will have a similar role in deciding when to terminate the treatment (Sumner, 2011). One of the consensuses in the medical field is that the healthcare providers are allowed to honor the patient requests in addition to being bound legally and ethically to respect autonomy. While some studies have sought to differentiate euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, others have argued that the concepts are similar as they involve an intended or direct act to cause death (Quinlan, 2016). In the former, the physician performs an act that is intended to cause death while in the latter, the physicians help the patient to perform the last act. In the current situation, the ethics …

Implementation of Procedures to Ensure Ethical Integrity

As the hospital administrator, I have the duty of ensuring that the procedures guiding end-of-life situations are implemented while maintaining ethical integrity. The modern healthcare is indeed, based on collaborative decision making and as the administrator, I will seek to establish if any of the individuals have a power of attorney and guide how the decision will be made. I will achieve this by asking the family members and the involved healthcare practitioners to brief meeting where I will highlight the procedures and policies regulating the situation. I will also highlight the ethical issues that need to be considered by the family and what is applicable to the institution (Sumner, 2011). After establishing the person who has the power of attorney, it is assumed that since the patient had an inheritance, they may have given an individual power of…

Policies and Procedures to Consider when Making the Decision

When making decisions in situations like the one prescribed in the case, I will use both the state, federal and organization based procedures. The state and federal policies encourage that patients are cared for as soon as possible by upholding the highest professional and ethical standards (Sumner, 2011). However, in the current case, the decision involves the use of life support, which dictates that the family is informed and consent is provided to establish whether to continue with the procedures or to withhold. These provisions are in tandem with the organizational procedures that require the healthcare practitioners to immediately establish the will of the patient regarding the…

Resources to Support the Decision

In making this decision, I will rely on the federal and state laws regarding the appointment of a guardian or surrogate with the power of attorney to help in the decision making. I will also rely on the professional opinions of the physicians r…

References

Cholbi, M. & Varelius, J. (2015). New directions in the ethics of assisted suicide and euthanasia. New York: Springer.

Davis, J. (Ed.). (2016). Ethics at the end of life: New issues and arguments. Taylor & Francis.

Gorsuch, N. M. (2009). The future of assisted suicide and euthanasia. Princeton University Press.

Paterson, C. (2012). Assisted suicide and euthanasia: A natural law ethics approach. New York: Ashgate Publishing.

Player, C. T. (2018). Death with dignity and mental disorder. Ariz. L. Rev., 60, 115.

Quinlan, M. (2016). “Such is life”: Euthanasia and capital punishment in Australia: Consistency or contradiction? Solidarity: The Journal of Catholic Social Thought and Secular Ethics, 6(1), 6.

Shibata, B. (2017). An ethical analysis of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide: Rejecting euthanasia and accepting physician assisted suicide with palliative care. Journal of Legal Medicine, 37(1-2), 155-166.

Sumner, L. W. (2011). Assisted death: A study in ethics and law. Oxford: OUP Oxford.

Van den Block, L. (2009). Euthanasia and other end of life decisions and care provided in final three months of life: Nationwide retrospective study in Belgium. BMJ, Volume 339.