Ethical and Legal Implications of Prescribing Drugs Case Study Paper

Ethical principles and legal measures are applied in various areas of clinical practice. Specifically, clinicians consider ethical principles of non-maleficence and patient autonomy when making decisions for patients at the end-of-life stage. Studies show that engaging family in making decisions and treatment of critically-ill patients results in positive health outcomes (Kydonaki et al., 2021). For this reason, nurse practitioners should consider the family’s decision concerning patient’s treatment in the end-of-life care to earn their support. This paper analyzes potential implications and disclosure and non-disclosure approaches in medication error involving a 72yo male, A.C admitted to the ICU with a massive stroke. Ethical and Legal Implications of Prescribing Drugs Case Study Paper

Ethical and Legal Implications in the Context of the Case Study

The nursing professional standards require nurses to prioritize their patients by providing them with high-quality and safe care. NPs also have legal and ethical obligations to protect their patients from potential and preventable harm and respect their decision concerning their treatment (Schiller et al., 2019). In this case, the family makes decision concerning the patient’s treatment since he does not have end-of-life care directives. The prescriber’s action significantly depends on the family’s decision. Therefore, the prescriber has not acted against ethical or legal guidelines. Moreover, ethical implications are not applicable to the pharmacist since he puts the patient in a ventilator to save his life and prevent potential respiratory distress; hence, adhering to the principles of beneficence and non-maleficence (Akbar & Hernoko, 2022). Additionally, the daughter does not violate any ethical principle since she supports her dad’s wish to protect his life. However, the patient’s wife violates the principle of non-maleficence since her decision would eventually terminate the patient’s life if the ventilator was withdrawn. Ethical and Legal Implications of Prescribing Drugs Case Study Paper

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Error Disclosure and Non-Disclosure Interventions

The Nursing Practice Act (NPA) in the state of practice advocates for the disclosure of all medication errors. NPs must discuss potential outcomes of a particular treatment therapy with the patient or the family. The family must be informed about adverse health outcomes associated with a specific treatment therapy. In this case, the nurse practitioner should inform the patient’s family that removing the patient from the ventilator would eventually interfere with his breathing, resulting in respiratory distress (Benditt, 2019).

Making Decisions Regarding Disclosure in the Scenario

NPs’ actions are guided by morality, integrity, and a code of ethics. The ethical principle of beneficence is considered a rule of law that holds that clinicians have a moral obligation to benefit others through their actions (Varkey, 2021). In this scenario, I would disclose the error to the patient’s caregivers for appropriate actions to be taken to avoid causing harm to the recipient or others. For instance, reporting the error would result in appropriate medical action particularly retaining the patient in the ventilator, reducing the risk of potential health complications, such as respiratory distress. Ethical and Legal Implications of Prescribing Drugs Case Study Paper

Process of Writing Prescriptions

Extra care is needed when writing prescriptions to prevent AE. The NP must assess the pinpoint issue before prescribing to ensure a particular medication is effective in managing the patient’s health issue (Choukroun et al., 2021). Furthermore, the patient’s pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics must be considered to prevent potential adverse reactions or serum toxicity in geriatrics (American Geriatrics Society, 2023). Moreover, they should inform the patient about potential adverse drug reactions with a particular medication or substance, such as alcohol. The clinician also counter-checks the prescription to ensure the properties of the medication, including dose, frequency, administration route, and storage, are correct. Lastly, the provider informs the patient about potential severe side effects that would require the patient to contact the provider. Ethical and Legal Implications of Prescribing Drugs Case Study Paper

References

Akbar, S. A., & Hernoko, A. Y. (2022). Ethical-Medicolegal Aspects of Installation and Removal of Ventilator in Life Support Efforts for Critical Patients during Covid-19 Pandemic. Verdict: Journal of Law Science, 1(1), 1-15.

American Geriatrics Society Beers Criteria Update Expert Panel. (2023). American Geriatrics Society 2023 updated AGS Beers Criteria® for potentially inappropriate medication use in older adults. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Benditt, J. O. (2019). Respiratory care of patients with neuromuscular disease. Respiratory Care, 64(6), 679-688. Ethical and Legal Implications of Prescribing Drugs Case Study Paper

Choukroun, C., Leguelinel-Blache, G., Roux-Marson, C., Jamet, C., Martin-Allier, A., Kinowski, J. M., … & Antoine, V. (2021). Impact of a pharmacist and geriatrician medication review on drug-related problems in older outpatients with cancer. Journal of Geriatric Oncology, 12(1), 57-63.

Kydonaki, K., Kean, S., & Tocher, J. (2020). Family INvolvement in inTensive care: A qualitative exploration of critically ill patients, their families and critical care nurses (INpuT study). Journal of Clinical Nursing, 29(7-8), 1115-1128.

Schiller, C. J., Pesut, B., Roussel, J., & Greig, M. (2019). But it’s legal, isn’t it? Law and ethics in nursing practice related to medical assistance in dying. Nursing Philosophy, 20(4), e12277.

Varkey, B. (2021). Principles of clinical ethics and their application to practice. Medical Principles and Practice, 30(1), 17-28. Ethical and Legal Implications of Prescribing Drugs Case Study Paper