Legal and Ethical Issues in Nursing: Regulation of Nursing Profession and Consent to Treatment

Discussion questions for assigned articles

Please take the time to reflect on and discuss the two assigned articles with your fellow group members and respond to one of the following questions. Please post your response as well as your reply to one of your fellow group member’sposts online via Moodle.1.Please discuss Corrigan’s notion that the idea of informed consent should be expanded from its current “’tight and limited’focus”. Please identify some of the freedom limiting features that constrain the process of obtaining meaningful informed consent.2.Do you agree with the Supreme Court’s decision in Starson  v  Swayzethat Ontario’s Consent  and  Capacity  Board  should  have based its decisions solely on Starson’s mental capacity rather than his best interests?ndividual Case AnalysisOnce you have read the materials for the lesson please complete the following case analysis and post it online for review and gradingby your fellow group members. Analyses must not exceed3double-spaced  pages.  Each  analysis  is  worth  5  pointsand  will  be  graded  by yourfellow  group members, who must assign a grade from 0 to 5, based on the thoroughness of the response. Youshould cite relevant material in the assigned course readings as appropriate. Youare also welcome to consult external sources but must provide proper references for any quotation or citation from external  sources.Once  you  have  completed  grading  the  assignments  please  have  one  group member email the grades to me. Each individual case analysis will be worth 5 points.Case:Jim is a 34-year-old man who is well-known to the community health centrethat he and his family have  attended  for  several  years.  He  is  married  and  has  two  young  children.  His  wife  is  eight months pregnant. He is a computer salesman and spends much time away from home travelling to clients across the country.A few weeks ago, Jim presented to the clinic complaining of generalized fatigue and lethargy. He had recently lost five kilograms and had noticed some unusual lesions on his inner thighs. As part
NURS 330: LEGAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES IN NURSINGLesson 3: Regulation of the Nursing Profession and Consent toTreatmentLesson3:  Regulation of the Nursing Profession and Consent to TreatmentCopyright © 2021Continuing & Distance Education, St. Francis Xavier University. All rights reserved.21Template version: 2019-08-06of  the  blood  screening  done  at  that  time,  an  HIV  test  was  undertaken.  This  turned  out  to  be positive. Given his clinical picture, it was likely that he had already developed AIDS.Jim’s primary care nurse is present when his physician relays the bad news to Jim. Clearly distraught,  Jim  admits that he  has  had  sexual  intercourse  with a  number  of women  during his business trips, and on several occasions did not bother to use a condom. Fearful of the effects that this revelation would have on both his family and his business contacts, Jim pleads with his caregivers to keep this information, and his diagnosis, confidential. Given his wife’s pregnancy, he feels this knowledge might cause her undue harm. He assures them that he and his wife have not  had  intercourse  since  her  pregnancy.  He  refuses  any  treatment  for  his  AIDS-related symptoms, since this would  make  the diagnosis obvious to  everyone.  Instead, he  asks  that  his family, including his wife, be told that he has terminal and incurable cancer. Jim’s physician (who is also his friend) says that he will respect Jim’s wishes for now.Questions: 1.Did the clinic have the right to test Jim for HIV without his knowledge or consent?2.Should the health care team keep Jim’s diagnosis confidential from his wife?3.If the primary care nurse disagrees with the decision of the physician, what can she do?