Conclusion
References
peaceful and dignified death , however there was awareness that this may not have been his wife ’ s perception of the situation . Using a deontological framework ( Mandal et al , 2016 ), true autonomy was not possible due to Albert ’ s condition , but his wife was aware of our decision-making process . Beneficence was demonstrated by acting in what was believed to be his best interest , and non-maleficence by opting not to attempt any resuscitation which would have caused injury and ultimately been futile . Dale ( 2013 ) suggests that there is often no absolute right answer , and that clinicians may have to use more than one ethical framework along with clinical reasoning to reach a decision .
Conclusion
The case presented outlines a decision not to resuscitate a patient in a situation where it would have been futile . This decision was supported by JRCALC ( 2017 ) guidelines , however , was a decision that less experienced clinicians may not have been comfortable making . While most clinicians would like to believe they use critical thinking to analyse a problem and reach a solution , there is strong evidence to suggest that most decisions are made by rapid pattern recognition ( Stanovich & West , 2014 ).
References
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