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Ethical Issues In Nursing Research Paper

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Becoming a doctor is a very long and difficult commitment for one person to make. I understand becoming a nurse doesn’t require as many years of schooling compared to a doctor, but both professions are based on the same ethical ground. I have already been faced with a medical decision agreed to by a patient, which directly conflicts with the religion I am studying under and standards I am trying to live by. The ethical dilemma I was faced with ended with what my patient wanted and needed, because it is my job to provide care and use the knowledge I have to provide that care. It’s not my job to pass judgement upon them for choosing a plan of care I would not accept, based solely on my religious beliefs. I have been trained as a nurse to be …show more content…

This topic is very important to me for many reasons, first and foremost I am a woman and I should have the right to make decisions about my body without judgement. One incident in the article written by Ms. Erdely displays a doctor’s pure prejudice towards a woman asking for a birth control prescription at her yearly gynecologic exam. The doctor assumed she wanted contraceptive for pregnancy prevention and quickly declined her request because he “was Catholic and it was against his religion.” Thankfully Elizabeth Dotts, the woman in this example, stood up for herself, by saying, “I'm glad for you that you're faithful," she told him. "But don't push it on me. I'm here for my treatment, and I expect you to give it to me." (1) She was prescribed the medication for menstrual cramping, not to prevent babies like the doctor assumed. Wasn’t this doctor a little trigger happy to interject his personal beliefs? Another thing, if this doctor had such strong beliefs against birth control and all the ethical decisions surrounding it, why did he become a gynecologist? The one specialty that is the most heavily saturated in female …show more content…

Personally I don’t believe I could go through with one, I do have religious beliefs that go against it, but I believe women should have the right to choose their fate with that. If someone would ask my advice about an unwanted pregnancy, abortion is not the option I would offer first and foremost, but it is an option I would discuss with them. I would do my job and explain the pros and cons. Now I wouldn’t be able to participate in the actual procedure though, that is where I would have to bow out. If this was the choice of my patient, I wouldn’t hesitate to refer her to someone who would be able to fulfill her request. Surprisingly enough, a survey conducted by ethics researchers at the University of Chicago, found that 29 percent of physicians surveyed would have problems referring a patient to another doctor for procedures that are legal but controversial, including abortion, birth control for minors and sedation of a dying patient. (2) I don’t disagree at all with a doctor refusing to perform a procedure they morally couldn’t perform, like abortion. The part I don’t agree with is a doctor withholding information or a referral because of a procedure they couldn’t do. The abortion is going to affect that woman and her unborn embryo/fetus, it is not a scenario that will disrupt the disapproving doctor’s day. Pass the buck, allow the woman to get the care she wants if you can’t give

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