Health Law

Health Law

Introduction

With the advances in medical technology and the accelerating research in the field of medicine, the diversity among the views and ideas of medical practitioners is also increasing rapidly. It is due to the same reason that a number of patients lose their lives each day, or are left to suffer, because the doctors and other medical practitioners are using them to test their abilities and knowledge by making various experiments. In the given case, the doctor believes that water might cause deterioration in the condition of patient and thus has confined him to bed, causing him the anguish and disgust of longing for water. However, being his nurse, I believe that that doctor's decision is against a number of ethical principles and laws, and the reasoning is provided below:

Discussion

Ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence, justice, and veracity

According to the ethical principal of autonomy, an individual's has the right to self determination and others are obliged to respect his decisions about personal matters. As the patient has decided to continue drinking water and in my opinion, that is not even harmful for him, the doctor is interfering with his right of self determination by confining him to bed. Moreover, the ethical right of beneficence and justice are also violated by the action of the doctor, as beneficence directs the doctor towards ensuring the well being and interest of the patient while justice demands that the patient is allowed to practice his will, when that is even not harmful for him. The ethical principle of veracity demands that the patient must be informed about the truth regarding his condition and the disease, and the doctor should provide him with accurate information instead of threatening him against his basic right and the urge to drink water (Westrick and Dempski, 2008).

Benner's Seven Moral ...