Ethical Dilemmas: ANA Code Of Ethics For Nurses

Working in correctional settings I am faced daily with many ethical dilemmas. The correctional population has many additional challenges then community patients which plays a big role in the inmate patient’s treatment and care. One particular case I can recall is a patient that was in the ICU and was dying from cancer. All treatment and interventions had been exhausted on this patient; however her family was still adamant on wanting everything done for their loved one. After long discussion with the family, Chaplin, providers, and I the patient’s code status was changed and end of life care was provided. Autonomy was used throughout this case to provide the patient and her family all the information they needed to make their decisions (Texas

As with any family this was very hard but being an inmate patient and not being able to always have access to your family made the decision very challenging. The ANA Code of Ethics for Nurses that I rely on daily is provision 1 “The nurse, in all professional relationships, practices with compassion and respect for the inherent dignity, worth, and uniqueness of every individual, unrestricted by considerations of social or economic status, personal attributes, or nature of health problems” (American Nurses Association, 2016). Inmate patients bring a lot of extra challenges when providing care. It is my job as a nurse to set aside their choices in life and provide optimal care for each and every patient. With this particular case, I was familiar with the patient, her life style, and her crime. Knowing this information can be challenging for some to set aside but following the code of ethics this is what has to be done. Position statements on Ethics and Human Rights that I could have utilized on in this case would have been Registered Nurses’ role and responsibilities in providing expert care and counseling at the end of life and Nursing care and do not resuscitate and allow natural death decisions (American Nurses