Dilemma Concerning Spirituality, Case Study Example

Introduction

In this case, there are two grave mistakes which I and Jill have committed. The first one is breach of our professional ethics. Our ethics do not allow us under any circumstance to violate personal life, decision making process or privacy of our patients. We are only required to aid them make informed decisions but not push our personal agendas on them. The second mistake we made is forcing our client to subscribe to religion in order to be “saved before dying”. Freedom of religion is a basic human right which is universal and accorded to all human beings equally. At no time should an individual or group of individuals force anyone leave alone a patient to subscribe or not to subscribe to a given religion. This is a fundamental right which should be upheld at all times (Murphy, 2001). Thus we erred in this regard.

My failure

Personally I think I failed my client on two grounds; one I stood quiet and let Jill do my job and secondly I failed to advice Jill and Chaplain on the whole issue. If I should have gone to attend my client personally without involving Jill in the first place, the whole mess should not have arisen! Secondly even if I am the new nurse I think I should have advised Jill to respect the patients wish and stop contacting the Chaplain. If Jill listens to me the better, but if she insisted on calling the Chaplain, I should have interrupted the chaplain before he attends Mr. Carpenter. I will then inform him of the patient’s wish (Weiner, 1995).

Jill’s actions

Judging from this scenario, I can comfortably say that the other nurse pushed her agenda on the client. This is because Mr. Carpenter said clearly and categorically that “No I told you I do not want to talk to anyone at this time, if I do I will ask for someone.” Thus the other nurse should have done better than what she did (Murphy, 2001). She did not respect the client’s wish. Concerning religion it is quite debatable. This is because even if Jill called the Chaplain without the patient’s consent, the Chaplain did not administer to him (Mr. Carpenter). Jill only pushed an agenda which did not materialise at the end of the day. This is evidenced from the Chaplain’s question to Jill “Why would you send me in there after that man told you he did not want a Chaplain?”

In this scenario it is clear that Jill has done a mistake on how she treated Mr. Carpenter. The step which should be taken on her will be dependent on management’s advice after a number of considerations. This includes patients grievance, number of times she has erred, professional experience and etc. This is because on one side she breached professional ethics and on the other side she violated a basic human right. My recommendation is that Jill should be reported to the professional body (that she belongs to) for appropriate disciplinary action. This will be a good lesson for her and others of her type to learn to respect their clients’ wishes. If possible she should also attend a refresher course on ethics (Davis, 2008).

References

Murphy, A.R., (2001). Conscience and Community: Revisiting Toleration and Religious Dissent in Early Modern England and America. USA; Pennsylvania State University Press.

Davis, D.H., (2008). The Evolution of Religious Liberty as a Universal Human Right, 2^ndEd. London; O U P. Pp. 370

Weiner, J., (1995). Human Rights in Limbo during the Interim Period of the Israeli–Palestinian Peace Process: Review, Analysis and Implications 27 N.Y.U. J. INT’L L. & POL. 761, 855