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ID: 351257 • Letter: P
Question
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Case: Favor Preserving Life
Ethical and legal issues
1. Describe the relevant ethical principles violated in this case?
2. Describe the relevant legal issues in this case. What actions could the parties to this lawsuit have taken beforehand to prevent this case from becoming a legal issue?
Explanation / Answer
1. The doctors have an obligation to save lives of their patient by using necessary means wherever possible. In this case principle of informed consent was violated. Though Mrs. Hughes signed a consent form and refused a blood transfusion, she was never informed by her doctors regarding the consequences of this. This was not an emergency situation and patient (Mrs. Hughes) and doctors could have fully discussed the details and patient could have then signed a consent form making hospitals and doctors not liable for any complications arising later.
2. Doctors did not inform the patient adequately, risking her life. She signed a consent form without knowing the consequences. This is a big legal issue in this case.
Further, doctors must have discussed with Mrs. Hughes and let her self-determine her treatment on the basis of information she had. Thereafter, any choice she made would have been an informed one. As a patient, Mrs. Hughes should have sought more information on the consent form she was signing. Both these steps would have preserved patient's right to freedom regarding determining treatment and gave freedom to the hospital to use necessary steps to save her life.
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