Ethical Arguments For and Against the Issue of Brain Death

Issue Position
Student's Name
Institution
Issue Position
Brain death is one of the most difficult ethical dilemmas that health care professionals can encounter. The case of 32-year old NK suffering from potential brain death is an example of how cultural or religious value can conflict with standard medical decisions (AMA Journal of Ethics, 2020). The contention issue is how to respond to NK's wife, SK, who makes it clear that if even her husband is brain dead, they will keep him on the machines until cardiopulmonary death occurs because they are Orthodox Jews. Thus, Dr. T is caught between respecting the patient's religious values and upholding the standard medical practice. In this case, my position is to allow some time, say 48 hours, within which the doctor will apply communication skills characterized by compassion, empathy, and respect for their perspective.
As a nurse practitioner, the case can be a significant learning point that may impact my approach to similar future scenarios. The decision not to immediately apply medical standards that would confirm the death of NK means that I may be expected to continue providing care to a corpse. I may not be comfortable with this because I believe I would be better doing other productive duties for other patients. However, I have an understanding of how cultural preferences impact care. Therefore, I have some reservations in the case of NK because of the shock the family could be going through. In this case, the patient is only 32 years old, and the death might have come as a surprise to the family, particularly the wife. Given this understanding, I will provide care but only for a short time, to allow the family members to come to terms with the death. The case can be useful in informing future similar scenarios, and I believe the hospital and staff will be better equipped to handle related cases in the future.
My position of allowing time of about 48 hours before discontinuing physiological support is consistent with relevant legal and ethical principles. According to Pope (2018), all jurisdictions in the US have established brain death determination. Therefore, save for some cases such as organ donation, physiological support can be withdrawn immediately after the determination of brain death. My position on the issue is consistent with laws in some states in the country that require hospitals to allow reasonable accommodation if the family objects to the discontinuation of physiological support. Therefore, I believe the 48 hours are reasonable enough to all...