Ethics Concerning Nursing of Suicidal Patients in Psychiatric Wards



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Table of Contents

Abstract4

Introduction5

Ethics concerning nursing of suicidal patients in psychiatric wards6

Ethics and autonomy6

Nursing ethics and autonomy6

Ethics versus law8

Autonomy of patients10

Autonomy of dementia patients10

Non-traditional approaches12

Nursing theory and advanced directives13

Determining the incompetency of patients13

The special case of euthanasia in determining autonomy15

The post-autonomy age16

Nursing ethics for suicidal patients17

Suicidal patients17

Autonomy of suicidal patients19

Conclusion20

References22

Ethics Concerning Nursing of Suicidal Patients in Psychiatric Wards

Abstract

The patient autonomy must be respected by all nurses. Therefore, it becomes ethically imperative for the nurses to ensure full autonomy for incompetent patients. The nurses must first clear on the concept of patient autonomy and that for incompetent patients. The nurses also must understand the autonomy of demented incompetent patients. Then the nurses have to balance the legal requirements with ethical obligations on them. Accordingly, the nurses must understand the debate on euthanasia and its implications on their practice. The nurses must also adhere to all ethical standards for establishing the autonomy of the incompetent patients. Lastly, the nurses must understand the lack of capacity, but competence of most of the patients with suicidal tendencies.

Introduction

It is clear that nurses are mandated to act responsibly and ethically regarding the professional demeanor and responsibility of nurses in all situations and with all the patients and their families. The nursing ethics are well-defined and all nurses are expected to adhere to the ethical principles outlined by various associations and other handbooks available on nursing ethics. However, it has been found that ethical dilemmas do appear for all nurses in one situation or the other. Then it becomes necessary for the nurses to either make an informed decision based on their prior knowledge regarding nursing evidence or to consult other nurses or physicians regarding the ethical dilemma.

Many patients become incompetent at some point due to mental incapacity, physical inability as a result of medical condition, or due to any other factor. In such a scenario, these patients are completely unable to make any decisions for them or to articulate them to the hospital or the nursing staff. In such a case, mostly the decisions for these incompetent patients are made by their surrogates. However, it is not very clear as to how this incompetence of various patients has implications for nursing ethics. Further, it is also necessary to identify the nursing ethics associated with mentally-ill patients who exhibit suicidal tendencies in psychiatric wards or in other managed care.

In this paper, we aim to explore the nursing ethics for patients who have become incapacitated due to incompetency. In addition, we want to look at the implications for nursing ethics when providing care to patients who are both incompetent as well as show suicidal tendencies. Therefore, we propose that nursing ethics are not specific for incompetent patients with suicidal tendencies. On the contrary, broad nursing ethics for providing nursing care to incompetent persons are equally applicable and suitable to providing nursing care to incompetent, or specifically to mentally-ill patients who exhibit suicidal tendencies.

Ethics concerning nursing ...