End of Life Health Care

Scenario: An elderly male was rushed to the emergency room reporting severe chest pain and shortness of breath. Shortly after his arrival at the emergency room he became unconscious and pulseless. CPR was started. When the family arrives one daughter states her father has an advance directive appointing her as his health care proxy; she has a copy of it in her purse. She indicates her father did not want to be resuscitated if his heart were to stop. However, one son and another daughter argue that since CPR has already been started it should not be stopped. Another son supports the daughter who is their father’s health care proxy. In your initial post discuss legal and ethical implications for the RN in this circumstance. How does the RN provide care to the patient and family to meet all needs during this stressful event? Discuss how it may be impossible to meet all family members’ needs Reading assignments Hinkle, J., & Cheever, K. (2013). Brunner and Suddarth’s textbook of medical-surgical nursing (13th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. ◦Chapter 16: End-of-Life Care Pillitteri, Adele. (2014). Maternal and Child Health Nursing (7th ed.) Philadelphia: Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins. ◦Chapter 56: Nursing Care of a Family When a Child Has a Long-Term or Terminal Illness (Sections on The Child Who Is Terminally Ill) Taylor, C., Lilis, C., LeMone, P., & Lynn, P. (2011). Fundamentals of nursing: The art and science of nursing care (7th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins. ◦Chapter 43: Loss, Grief, and Dying •Byock, I. (2010). Dying with dignity. Hastings Center Report, 40(2), back cover.