Instructions for Presentation -
This task requires you to analyse and evaluate the ethical issues in your chosen case study. Your presentation should include:
- A brief discussion of the ethical complexities/ethical conflicts in the case study.
- An identification of the actions of the health workers that have ethical consequences.
- A discussion of how you might apply ethical principles and/or ethical theories to the decisions made by health workers in the case study in order to analyse and evaluate those decisions. Alternatively, you could prescribe a course of action based upon one or more of the ethical theories or principles.
- A discussion of the importance of negotiated outcomes and consideration of alternative ways the situation could have been managed.
- You should also incorporate some of the codes and standards into your discussion and explain how they have been breached or upheld by the health worker/s in the case study.
Each person in the group should take turns in presenting to the class - the idea is that you work together, and not rely on others in your group to do everything!
Case Study - Mrs Wambui
Mrs. Wambui was admitted to a Hobart medical centre after several weeks of dysphagia. She was accompanied by her husband who provided the history of her illness. Originally from East Africa, Mrs. Wambui spoke no English, and no speakers of her particular dialect were available at the hospital.
"For the last few weeks, she hasn't been able to swallow anything," her husband said. "First, it was solid food, now liquids too." The treating physician, Dr. Graham, was concerned about oesophageal cancer, and, indeed, an endoscopy performed the following day revealed a mass which was probably an advanced carcinoma. Treatment options were limited, and surgery was unlikely to be curative.
While awaiting further characterization of the mass, Mr. Wambui told Dr. Graham, "We've talked about this, and she wants everything possible to be done. She's 55; that's too young to let her go."
"You both understand that there's only a small chance we can actually remove the entire mass and offer anything close to a cure." "We understand that."
Mrs. Wambui's husband repeated the statement-on many occasions, to many doctors -that his wife would want to exhaust all treatment options, including surgery, even if there were only a minimal chance for improvement or cure.
Several days after Mrs. Wambui's hospitalization, her children spent some time alone with their mother, after which they spoke with Dr. Graham. "Our mother is telling us that she doesn't want any surgery." They also stated their fear that she was acquiescing to her husband's wishes.
Dr. Graham realized at this point that he had never heard directly from the patient what she would like to have done, nor was he certain about the extent of her understanding of her own disease, so he arranged to have an interpreter called in. Through the interpreter, Mrs. Wambui stated that she did not wish to have this discussion alone but wanted her husband and children to be present. During the discussion, she stated that she understood that surgery was unlikely to be curative but that she wished to proceed regardless. The children objected that these were her husband's wishes and not her own-saying that this was not what she had told them-but Mrs. Wambui insisted that she wished to have the surgery.
Assignment Files - https://www.dropbox.com/s/6z9vhonc2j6biqr/Assignment%20Files.rar?dl=0