A male patient suffered a brain injury from a motor vehicle accident and has no brain activity. The spouse has come up to see the patient every day for the past 2 months. She asks the nurse, "Do you think when he moves his hands he is responding to my voice?" The nurse feels bad because she believes the movements are involuntary, and the prognosis is grim for this patient. She states, "He can hear you, and it appears he did respond to your voice." The nurse is violating which principle of ethics?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Veracity is the principle of telling the truth in a given situation. Autonomy is the principle of respect for the individual person; this concept states that humans have incalculable worth or moral dignity. Utilitarianism is an approach that is rooted in the assumption that an action or practice is right if it leads to the greatest possible balance of good consequences or to the least possible balance of bad consequences. Giving the spouse false reassurance is not a good consequence. Deontologic theory claims that a decision is right only if it conforms to an overriding moral duty and wrong only if it violates that moral duty. Persons are to be treated as ends in themselves and never as means to the ends of others.

A Male Patient Suffered a Brain Injury from a Motor