Deck 2: Principles of Healthcare Ethics

Question 1

The Hippocratic Oath demonstrates applied nonmaleficence. It requires that physicians and others first __________

Answer 1

do no harm.

Question 2

Failure to act under the protocols for treating patients can cause harm through omission or __________.

Answer 2

negligence

Question 3

When a person is not competent to make his/her own decisions and his/her wishes are not known, __________ is used in place of full autonomy.

Answer 3

substituted judgment

Question 4

If we take positive steps to help others, we are practicing __________.

Question 5

When a physician tries to coerce someone into making a decision, it prevents free choice and violates__________.

Question 6

When someone receives to process under the law, it is called__________.

Question 7

When determining what is fair to balance benefits and burdens, one can use__________.

Question 8

In healthcare, people with life threatening emergencies are treated first. This is an example distributive justice based on __________

Question 9

Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas believed that natural rights support the achievement of our __________

Question 10

The back-and-forth process of analyzing the application of theory, principles, and judgments in assessing a healthcare issue is called__________.

Question 11

Nonmaleficience requires that we avoid or prevent harm. List two ways that health care can harm patients. For each item, a list way that it can prevent harm.

Question 12

Beneficence is called a higher moral burden. Discuss three reasons why beneficence is more than avoiding harm to patients.

Question 13

Reflective equilibrium is a tool for making decisions and including ethics. List three ways that this model can assist you in making ethics-based decisions in health care settings.

Question 14

Which of the following is true regarding the debate over the definition of harm in the clinical setting when referring to nonmaleficence?

A) Harm cannot be defined as just physical.
B) Any act that prevents a patient from overcoming illness is considered harm.
C) The term negligence is used instead of harm because the term harm can have too many
D) interpretations.
E) Harm can be defined too many ways and has to be taken into consideration on an individual basis.

Question 15

Which of the following is true regarding the difference between omission and commission?

A) Omission and commission are the same except commission involves more than one person.
B) Commission would be a nurse giving a patient too much morphine on purpose and the patient dies and omission would be withholding morphine from the patient and the patient experiences severe pain.
C) Omission is the same as malpractice and commission is the same as negligence.
D) Commission refers to a financial maleficence where omission refers to a clinical maleficence in which a patient suffers injury.

Question 16

Which of the following is true regarding the difference between ethics in the healthcare field and ethics in the corporate world?

A) In the corporate world ethical issues do not involve harm to a person.
B) Ethical issues are not discussed by a committee in the corporate world but rather the chief executive officer (CEO) of the corporation and whoever else is involved in the situation.
C) The foundation of all ethical issues in the healthcare field is to do no harm.
D) Ethical decisions are handled the same in both health care and the corporate world, but in health care there are more sacrifices made for the greater good.

Question 17

The doctor in the emergency room pronounced a patient dead and stopped cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) efforts after talking with the patient's spouse who said, "My spouse would not want this, please let my spouse be in peace." The doctors action is justified by which of the following?

A) reasonable person decision
B) best interest
C) substituted judgment
D) autonomy

Question 18

The doctor diagnosed a patient with lung cancer and stated, "I need you to come back tomorrow and have a port-a-cath placed, so we can start chemotherapy right away." Which of the following responses, if made by the the patient, would classify how paternalism has changed since 2010 with the ACA?

A) "I would like to think about my options and consider alternative therapies first."
B) "Will I need to have radiation after the chemotherapy?"
C) "I cannot come back tomorrow, but I can return the day after tomorrow."
D) "I will return tomorrow and do exactly as you recommend."

Question 19

The nurse caring for a patient was asked by the hospital chaplain if the chaplain could pray with the patient. The nurse saw, "no religious affiliation" on the admission form of the patient's medical record and told the chaplain not to pray with the patient. Which of the following has the nurse violated?

A) competence
B) beneficence
C) confidentiality
D) autonomy

Question 20

Which of the following might demonstrate a competent patient who is being coerced?

A) The older sibling of a 5-year-old child is asked by the parents to donate bone marrow to save the 5-year-old's life because the older sibling is the only match.
B) The adult child of an 89-year-old patient refuses to take the patient off of life support even though the patient's wishes are for the child to do so.
C) The mother of a patient is donating a kidney to the patient who has diabetes and kidney failure.
D) The father of a toddler explains to the doctor how the toddler fell down the stairs and broke the left arm.

Question 21

The nurse is caring for 2 male patients who have a broken limb. Both patients requested more pain medicine. The first patient asked, "Please could you call the doctor I am in so much pain?" The second patient asked, "Why are you letting me suffer, can't you do something for me?" The nurse called the doctor and medicated the first patient, the second patient received medication when the next scheduled dose was due. The action by the nurse should be classified as which of the following?

A) autonomy
B) procedural injustice
C) negative rights
D) nonmaleficence

Question 22

Which of the following is true when comparing distributive and procedural justice?

A) Both are related to a person being treated unfairly.
B) Both involve the legal system.
C) Need is the primary basis for determining if either justice was implemented fairly.
D) A healthcare worker can choose to ignore either justice if there is a good reason to discriminate.

Question 23

Which of the following demonstrates distributive justice based on need?

A) The last unit of blood that is universal donor type was given to a baby instead of an older adult with dementia.
B) A patient with a history of drug abuse received a higher dose of pain medicine than the patient with a mental health disorder.
C) The patient who has not missed any physical therapy appointments was not charged for a follow-up X-ray and the patient who missed half of the appointments was charged.
D) The doctor spent 15 minutes with the patient seen just before lunch and spent 30 minutes with the patient seen after the lunch break.

Question 24

Maslow's hierarchy of basic needs can best be categorized as which of the following?

A) positive rights
B) substance rights
C) negative rights
D) process rights

Question 25

The nurse working at the hospital was yelled at by a doctor after accidentally giving the wrong dose of insulin to an assigned patient. The nurse stated to the doctor, "You have no right to treat me that way and I am going to report your behavior to my supervisor and yours." The statement by the nurse can best be justified by which of the following?

A) positive rights
B) process rights
C) negative rights
D) natural rights

Question 26

A patient's mother was in the elevator at the hospital with two nurses and overheard the nurses talking about a patient's diagnosis and care. The mother recognized that the nurses were discussing her child and stated, "You nurses should not be talking like this in the elevator, that is my child you are talking about. I should sue you both for violating my child's confidentiality." The statement by the mother can be justified by which of the following?

A) process rights
B) negative rights
C) ideal rights
D) substance rights

Question 27

The nurse is caring for a patient who had an indwelling urethral catheter removed 24-hours ago and has been urinating without difficulty. The patient reports feeling like the bladder is full but cannot void. The nurse scanned the patient's bladder finding 525 mls of urine present and inserts a straight catheter to empty the bladder. The actions by the nurse demonstrate which of the following?

A) process rights
B) autonomy
C) procedural injustice
D) malpractice

Question 28

The nurse at a local restaurant helped an older adult female using a walker by opening the bathroom door for her and noticed she was wearing flip flops. The female stated, "My feet are so cold but this is all I have. I need to get a space heater because my house does not have heat. I wish I had really warm slippers." The nurse approached the female later with a pair of new slippers. Which of the following has the nurse demonstrated?

A) beneficence
B) eudaimonia
C) ethical intuition
D) distributive justice

Question 29

Which of the following applies to beneficence?

A) Reasonable people practice beneficence everyday.
B) People who practice beneficence own their lives.
C) Those who practice beneficence are people of practical wisdom.
D) Beneficence is typically a personality trait in health care professionals.

Question 30

Which of the following applies to maintaining a healthcare system based on ethics?

A) nonmaleficence
B) natural rights
C) distributive justice
D) reflective equilibrium model

Question 31

The mission statement of an organization would apply to which of the following?

A) ideal rights
B) considered judgments
C) process rights
D) procedural justice

Question 32

The reflective equilibrium model best applies to which of the following?

A) rights
B) justice
C) nonmaleficence, autonomy and beneficence
D) both theories and principles of ethics

Question 33

Health care is a substance right that may or may not be a legal right?