Ch 39 Ethics and Law Flashcards
What are the core ethical principles relevant to nutrition support?
Autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice
What is the preeminent value in ethical and legal framework for US healthcare?
Autonomy; refers to individual self-determination, a capable patient is authorized to make decisions about his/her treatment and care. ANH falls under medial treatment and patients have the autonomy to chose whether or not they want to receive it
What is informed consent?
Patient/surrogate is provided adequate info regarding the proposed treatment or procedure in understandable language; includes diagnosis for which treatment is indicated, prognosis, benefits, burdens, risk, alternatives to proposed intervention, including no treatment
Decision maker must have appropriate capacity and possess voluntarism without internal/external coercion
Why should health professionals be familiar with the laws in the state they practice?
There are differences among laws between states
What is abandonment?
Unilateral severance of the professional relationship without reasonable notice under the circumstances when continued attention is required
What is a conscience clause?
Federal, state, and institutional polices have conscience clause provisions to define the clinician’s options in situations where they feel they cannot participate in the care of a patient due to moral/religious objections; in general, an orderly transfer of care is completed and the clinician continues to be responsible for patient
In which clinical situation is ANH not appropriate?
Advanced dementia
The joint committee requires that every hospital must have what?
An ethics committee
True or false: there is no ethical distinction between withholding and withdrawing ANH
True
When conducting a research experiment, which variable is exposed to the experimental group?
Independent variable; the dependent variable is the response that is measured.
What is the most common side effect for a dying patient in which ANH are withheld?
Dry mouth
What is a sentinel event?
A sentinel event is a patient safety event of an unexpected occurrence involving death or serious physical or psychological injury, or the risk thereof. Serious injury specifically includes loss of limb or function.
Such events are called “sentinel” because they signal the need for immediate investigation and response.
True or false: A Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) or Do Not Attempt Resuscitation (DNAR) order is not a contraindication to the provision of ANH in any state
True
True or false: patients who are dying predominately have electrolyte values that run in the normal range.
True
