A CASE ANALYSIS OF THE LEGAL, PROFESSIONAL, AND ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF REGISTERED NURSES FOR DISCLOSURE OF PROGNOSTIC INFORMATION TO DYING ADULTS (PHILOSOPHY).
Contributors: University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Published: 1983
Number of pages: 199
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Sociology, Public and Social Welfare.
Description: Information is desirable on factors affecting the decisions registered nurses must make as they attempt to respond to a patient's perplexing question, "Nurse, am I dying?" If a physician and family wish to spare the patient from the distress associated with learning about a fatal illness, what can the nurse do to assure that the patient's request for information will be met? The purpose of this study was to determine the legal, professional, and ethical responsibilities of registered nurses as they make decisions about disclosure of prognostic information to dying adults.

A case study design utilizing content analysis to examine issues and sub-issues was used to investigate three research questions. Data for analysis were selected from nursing, medical, legal, and philosophic literature. Two case studies were chosen for analysis. The Tuma case, an actual occurrence, involved an Idaho nurse who disclosed alternative treatment information to a dying adult who was suffering from leukemia. The Yarling case, a hypothetical situation, involved a nurse who faced a decision about disclosing a prognosis to a dying adult. Issues included due process, unprofessional conduct, professional nursing, health care provider-consumer relationships, informed consent, and disclosure. Sub-issues involved rights, responsibilities, conflict, confidentiality, and deception in terminal illness. Kantianism and utilitarianism were the two ethical theories used to analyze the selected cases.

Major findings included that ambiguity in the definitions of unprofessional conduct and professional nursing created unclear consequences for nurses regarding the disclosure of prognostic information to dying adults. Some nurse practice acts have been interpreted to permit nurses to discuss alternative therapy or prognosis as one aspect of the nurse's duty to teach patients. Kantianism and utilitarianism supported nurses for not deceiving patients and for communicating relevant information to both patients and appropriate health care professionals. Implications for nursing practice and nursing education were discussed and recommendations for further study were enumerated.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-03, Section: B, page: 0829.

Thesis (D.S.N.)--UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM, 1983.

School code: 0005.