Case Narrative Application of Ethical and Legal Principles to Case Scenarios
Due Friday 9 July 2021, 10am
The goal of this assessment is to recognise and become attuned to the legal requirements and moral/ethical aspects of everyday care and to consider your role as a healthcare student and future healthcare professional. The focus is on the application of legal principles, moral/ethical theory and ethical healthcare practice. Moral justification is important in moral decision making. Apply legal principles, ethical principles, moral theory, virtue ethics, and an ethic of care to frame your answers.
Choose three (3) of the case narratives from the five (5) below and answer the corresponding questions for the narratives you have chosen. Your task is to carefully consider the narrative from multiple perspectives and answer the question in relation to the specifics within the narrative and the relevant legal and ethical concepts using a reasoned approach. Each answer should be 500-700 words (includes intext references) in length and the usual guidelines for academic writing and referencing apply (see Canvas for links to Referencing guide). The choice of which three (3) narratives to answer is up to you. These narratives may apply to a multitude of professional health disciplines including physiotherapy, nursing, medicine, pharmacy, psychology and counselling, to accommodate your ability to consider the legal and ethical principles related to your own discipline. Ensure that you have reviewed the marking rubric and have met the requirements of the assessment.
You are required to submit this assessment via the assignment box on this units Canvas page. It is encouraged that you submit to the draft submission section first to receive a URKUND report for text matching. This may take 24-48 hours for a report, so it is best to be submitted in advance of the due date to enable review and refinement as needed. In your submission please do not include the case narrative, rather, just include the case narrative number as a heading to indicate which narratives will be addressed.
NARRATIVE ONE
You are at work in an ACT public hospital when a colleague joins you for lunch and takes a bottle of antibiotic eye drops out of his pocket and begins to administer the drops into his (L) eye which is appears red and puffy causing him to squint. Your colleague explains that his eye has been getting worse over the shift, his vision is affected and that he knows it is just conjunctivitis, but he has not got time to go to the doctors. Your colleague states to you, “I have had this problem before, there are plenty of these antibiotic eye drops on the shelf in the medication room, no one will miss it and if I start it now, I will be OK for tomorrow and will not have to call in sick!”
NARRATIVE ONE (1) QUESTION:
From the perspective of your discipline, consider the actions of your colleague in the above case scenario and identify the areas of concern. Link the areas of identified concern to the actions you could or should take supported by relevant regulatory or legislative frameworks.
NARRATIVE TWO
Your manager calls for an urgent staff meeting and reports that a complaint has been made by the family of an organ donor patient. The donor family had requested not to be identified, but at the funeral of the donor, the family of the organ receiver approached them and wanted to thank them in person for their lifesaving decision. The donor’s family are threatening civil action against the health service for the emotional distress this has caused them. Further investigation has determined that a family member of the organ receiver entered a lift where they overheard a group of health professionals discussing the sad case of the 16 year old girl who had died as a result of an accident on Northbourne Avenue close to Civic. The health professionals gathered in the lift shared identifying details about the case including that the deceased teenager was an organ donor and that thankfully the family had honored her wishes. The family of the organ receiver searched the internet and found the media report which gave the names of the people involved, where they lived and the details of the funeral.
NARRATIVE TWO (2) QUESTION:
Reflect upon the case study above and apply a reasoned approach in your response to the scenario highlighting the most relevant legal frameworks and ethical concerns.