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Should a ventilator be removed at a patient's request? An ethical analysis.
1Harris College of Nursing, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth 76129.
Summary
Ventilator-dependent quadriplegic patients’ requests to discontinue life support pose ethical challenges. Healthcare teams must navigate patient autonomy and beneficence, often favoring patient wishes in complex cases.
Area of Science:
- Bioethics
- Medical Ethics
- Nursing Ethics
Background:
- Ventilator-dependent quadriplegic patients' requests for life support withdrawal create ethical dilemmas.
- Healthcare teams face challenges balancing patient autonomy with beneficence and nonmaleficence.
Observation:
- Applying ethical principles like autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and fidelity guides decision-making.
- Increasingly, cases favor discontinuing ventilators, reflecting a shift towards patient autonomy.
Findings:
- Ethical principles provide a framework but not definitive answers for complex cases.
- Decisions, though difficult, can achieve certainty when guided by ethical application.
Implications:
- Healthcare professionals experience emotional distress managing these ethical conflicts.
- Institutions need proactive strategies: anticipatory counseling, ethics education, and ethics-trained nurse resources.
Keywords:
Death and Euthanasia