An Ethical-Legal Dilemma of Advance Practice Nurses

Euthanasia versus Non-Euthanasia – An Ethical-Legal Dilemma of Advance Practice Nurses
Unforeseeable situations that often end up in dilemmas that are either ethical, legal or moral are commonly experienced by advanced practice nurses regularly. Nurses follow an International Code of Ethics. The code was first adopted in 1953 by the International Council of Nurses with the most recent revision completed in 2012. This helps the nurses be guided in their everyday work. The Four Principal Elements of the ICN Code of Ethics are, first, Nurses and People, second, Nurses and Practice, third, Nurses and the Profession, and fourth, Nurses and Co-workers, (International Council for Nurses, 2012). These four elements are reiterated in the nine Provisions in the Code of Ethics of the American Nurses Association, a member of the International Council of Nurses. Nurses who do not pay attention to the Code may face legal issues. An advanced nurse practitioner’s professional role is to identify ethical issues and should act as resource or mediator of patients and their families as well as co-workers experiencing these dilemmas (Ethical Issues in Advance Practice Nurse, n. d.).
The ethical legal dilemma that the essay will discuss is about a 75-year-old, mentally competent female, diagnosed with metastatic spinal tumors that spread to the lungs and liver. She refuses to undergo surgery and chemotherapy treatment that could extend her life for at least a year. Without these medical interventions, she barely has a month to live. She opted to have an Active Euthanasia as she does not want to endure the pain, but her husband disagrees with her decision. Her husband would like to proceed with the surgery and chemotherapy treatment. In this case, whose decision should the physicians and nurses obey? Will it be ethical to proceed with Active Euthanasia? Before we discuss the ethical principle and law that could be violated in this dilemma, let us first discuss some ethical concepts and define Euthanasia and its types.
Ethics
The word Ethics is from the Greek Word Ethos which means custom, habit, disposition or character. It is simply a system of moral principles. This influences people on how they should make their decisions and direct their lives. It concerns the individual and society and what is good for them (“Ethics: a general introduction”, 2014). A technical distinction between Morality and Ethics was stated in the Code of Ethics of the American Association of Nurses. The character and personal values, as well as the conduct of individual or groups, refers to Morality. The formal study of morality is what we define as ethics. Ethics is also referred as moral theology or moral philosophy. The Field of Ethics is further branched to applied ethics, metaethics and normative ethics (“The Code of Ethics with Interpretative Statements”, 2015).
Metaethics is a branch of ethics that delve to figure out what is right and wrong in moral standards. Normative Ethics, on the other hand, tries to produce a general theory on how we are supposed to Live. Applied Ethics is the practical aspect of ethics where you implement the theories of Normative ethics to particular issues stating the right or wrong thing to do (Holt,...