OVERVIEW

Deciding to place a loved one into a long-term care facility can be extremely difficult. Even more difficult is the thought of your loved one’s rights being violated while in long-term care. Patient healthcare rights are not as clearly defined as one would expect, and there are long-term care and other healthcare facilities that create their own sets of patient rights. However, there are also certain indisputable rights afforded to patients across the board.

Read the case study titled “A Legal and Ethical Dilemma”, located on pages 463–465 of your text. Next, use the Internet or Strayer Library to research information on a patient’s right to die.

INSTRUCTIONS

Write a paper in which you:

Describe the legal and ethical dilemma discussed in the case study. Analyze the key ways in which a patient’s right to die relates to this specific case.

From your research, specify the potential repercussions for failure to comply with the wishes of a patient who has requested to withhold a life-sustaining procedure. Next, take a position on whether the patient’s right to die or the patient’s right to be protected from harm should take precedence in this case. Provide a rationale for your position.

1. Imagine that you are a part of the ethics committee investigating this case. Determine the main facts pertaining to the issue that the committee should consider. Suggest one step that the facility should take next in order to resolve the dilemma. Provide a rationale for your response.