Group 7 : Ethics, morals & values
PRIMARY HEALTH CARE (HDP 122)
BLOG:
DO NOT RESUSCiTATE
Group Members:
Britany Andrews 3863359
Tharsheyen Naidoo 3820150
Nangamso Daisy Mafanya 3858872
Thembelani Gloria Mandoyi 3831363
Siyasanga Mafalala 3809834
Vuyiseka Nokhwela 3874464
Madebari Fazili 3818955
Do not resuscitate
Meaning
in health care:
It is known as no code or allow natural death. It is a legal order written in
the hospital or advanced cardiac life support to respect the wishes of a
patient in case their heart is about to stop or they stop breathing.
In the health care community it allows natural death
and it is a term that is quickly gaining favour as it focuses on what is being done,
not what is being avoided.As health professionals living in South Africa
we often find ourselves in the midst of ethical dilemmas but our values and morals
serve as a beacon of hope in assisting us to deal with these ethical dilemmas.
It is important to get definitions of morality,
ethics and values in order to be able to tackle our topic properly. We have
defined morality as an issue that is concerned with right and wrong or
conforming to standards of behaviour. Values are a language that has evolved
to talk about objects or things that a person holds dear to them. Ethics are
ways which you go through to determine right and wrong, so that relationships
with people are peaceful and harmonious.
Our article (scenario) is about a 70 year old
man who arrived at the hospital unconscious, without any identification, with high
blood cholesterol levels, a history of lung disease, a heart problem and
diabetes. He had a three-word tattoo in big capital letters on his chest, “DO
NOT RESUSCITATE”.
This patient’s tattoo created an ethical
dilemma because the doctors were stuck between a rock and a hard place. In
other words, would they fulfill the client’s wish or not. This article proves
that everyone has a choice to do good or bad in life. The doctors have option
to not revive this patient from death, because his health is already deteriorating
as he has a high cholesterol level, history of lung diseases, heart problems
and diabetes, so many would honour his wish and not resuscitate whilst many
people would argue that who are we to play God, what gives us the right to end
somebody’s life. Even if the patient’s health was already deteriorating. We as
humans have no right to end a person’s life.
The primary health care provider’s goal is to prioritise a patient’s health far as possible by the maximising benefits and minimising harm. This is the reason why we as a group have all decided that we would not
fulfill this particular patient’s wish as it goes against our values and morals.
We as a group value the gift of life and as health professionals we have a very
big need to save, cure, prevent and rehabilitate our patients. We also believe
that by using both cognitive, psychological and by promoting collaboration between health
professionals a patient’s life can be saved.
All of our group members believe that it would
be ethically correct to revive a client’s life at death as the tattoo on the
man’s chest may not necessarily mean that he definitely does not want to be
resuscitated and because the man could not be identified. Not reviving his life
would be unfair to his family, thus making resuscitation ethically correct
during this scenario. As it would not be fair to his family as he may be the
breadwinner even though he is 70 years old. A pillar of support and love for his siblings,
children and grandchildren.
To conclude, the ethical dilemma in this
article was life and death. As a doctor it is their duty to ensure the
well being of their patient both physically and mentally. However when a patient
makes it clear that what they want is to die, this suddenly makes your choice
much harder.
To answer the question of whether a doctor can
act as God in these cases, we strongly believe that it should not be their
place to intervene. But as a human being we have our own right to make our own
choices and these should be honoured to the best of our ability, even if they
do not contradict to your own personal morals and values. However in this case
we do not have sufficient information amount the patient. So that is why we as
a group would go against the man’s tattoo and resuscitate him
TO KNOW MORE ABOUT “DO NOT RESUSCITATE” WATCH THIS VIDEO:
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