Case study: You are the only staff nurse working at a rural health clinic. There are no other healthcare clinics within two hours. The provider at the clinic provides a wide range of care and procedures, including elective abortions. A patient presents to the clinic 13 weeks pregnant and requesting an elective abortion. The provider requests that you assist with this procedure. Use the case above to answer the following questions: Type your answers into the text boxes below. The box will expand as you type. What are your underlying personal beliefs as they relate to this case? You do not need to defend your beliefs – this is more to help you reflect on what your moral and ethical beliefs are and how they relate to patient care. Based on your answer above, how do you proceed? If you find that you are ethically or morally opposed to abortion, what other options might you find to help your patient receive care? How would you discuss this with your patient in a way that is neutral and unbiased? Make sure to reference the seven ethical principles for decision making and the ANA code of ethics to support your answers. What if the woman then shared with you that she had recently learned she was a carrier of a genetic disorder that would leave her debilitated and likely to die in her 40s to 50s, and that her child had a 50% chance of inheriting the disease as well (for example, Huntington’s disease)? This is the reason she wishes to proceed with abortion – at best, she will likely leave her child motherless at a fairly young age. Her child will watch her lose her mental and physical faculties. At worst, her child will also be a carrier of this disease, and will face these same choices in the future. Again consider your underlying moral and ethical beliefs. Do you find that your plan of action changes based on the newly disclosed information? Why or why not? Again, make sure to reference the seven ethical principles for decision making and the ANA code of ethics to support your answers. References Type your APA format references into the box below. The box will expand as you type.
