Concepts of Healthcare Regulations, Law, and Ethics 7 Week ZAssignrnent 2 You Be the Judge This week we move from the ethical principle of nonmaleficence: meaning Do No Harm: a very important principle in health care. to that of beneficence: Do Good. The ethical principle of beneficence is more than just a desire to do good. It directs actions on our part to remove harm and to promote what is best for the patient. This means for ALL PATIENTS! - not just those we deem worthy. Example of Beneficence As a young nurse in the Intensive Care Unit I came to work one day and found myself in the middle of an argument among the staff. People were angry and redifaced in the manner of those in the throes of righteous indignation. Asking what was happening: I heard the following story.Ayoun% woman was driVing home in a rural area on a sn day and came upon acar in the ditch. Stopping: as a good Samaritan would for the young man who looked cold and lost. he proceeded to assault her at knifepoint. At some point s e was able to wrest the knife away and stab him: s oving his body out into a snowdrift. Eventual y_. she ma e her way to safety. the police retrieved the body from the snow, and found him to be alive. though critically wounded as the stab wound pierced his heart. Many hours and emergency surgery later he came to be a patient shackled to the bed with a police officer in attendance. And no one would care for him. He was deemed not worthy. | Will care for him, I said, and I did every shift thereafter until he was sent to prison. Everyone asked me why I would volunteer. lthink they expected me to say something profound. but I had nothing that would make a headline. It was simply not about him. It was about me. I had made a commitment when I entered healthcare to provide the best care for my patient. I am to do good, I am to actively prevent from harm: not having a caring nurse would cause harm. I do not get to pick and choose who those patients are. Be they the wrong color: sexual orientation: ethnic group: good: bad: criminals: saints: illegal. |ega|....was not the issue. Either I followed my promise to do good as an action. or l was lost in a sea of souls that would have to be sorted like dirty laundry into those worthy or not.And that is not what I was here for. Case Stud You have workedI for several years in a small rehab facility providing a variety of leadership and managerial duties. A licensed practical nurse who began around the same time as you has become a close friend. You know she has been going through a difficult time lately as her husband had died. Several times she smelled like alcohol but when you asked her about it she laughed it off as haVing partied too late the night before. She is yourfriend and you want only the best for her so you made her promise to never drink around work hours again. One day you heard a loud thump and went to a patient room to find an elderly lady on the floor and your friend glassy eyed and slurring her words saying. \"I dont know what happened; it is not my fault she fell". You know you need to take action but you always try to do good and provide the best for everyone and you cannot see your way through this situation. Reporting your friend's condition would likely cost her to lose her job. causing a bad outcome. But the patient had already had a bad outcome; it was too late to create good. Apply your knowledge of beneficence to this case study. include each of the following points In your assrgnmenr. Summarize the important points in the case study List potential actions based on the ethical principle of beneficence Choose your action as you are the iudge Defend your choice based upon your assessment of the ethical principle