Activity 7

The Waiting Incident

Two elderly couples had been in a nursing home. The husband has a heart attack
and the wife is brought from the other floor. Before she can get to the other room, the
husband dies, but to spare the woman the pain, the staff allows her to think that he is
still alive when she gets to the room. In that she is frail and feeble, with poor eyesight,
she does not know that he is dead. The woman is then told that her husband’s
respiration is growing weaker and that he appeared to have been waiting for her before
he died. As she leaves the room, she tells the staff that she is so glad he waited for her
so that she could see him alive one more time.

 Which Universal Principle/s is/are applicable in this case?

Based on the given situation, the universal principles that are applicable in this case
are the principles of veracity, beneficence, and fidelity. Firstly, the principle of veracity
was violated in this case because the nurse failed to maintain a sense of truthfulness
and honesty toward her client. Clearly, the nurse lied about the old woman's husband's
true situation in the scene. Indeed, the nurse implies to the elderly woman that her
husband was still alive but suffering from a deteriorating respiratory condition. What is
even more upsetting to the client when she discovers the truth is that the nurse made
up a story about the husband still waiting for her, which gives the old woman false hope
and foolish expectation.
Secondly, the principle of beneficence was violated in the case due to psychological
harm. As defined, beneficence is the obligation to perform actions that are beneficial to
our individual clients while causing no harm to them. With this in mind, what the nurse
told the old woman clearly gives the client false hope, as the old woman expresses her
joy upon hearing that her husband is waiting for her. Given that she was feeble and frail
due to her age, the nurse's action will undoubtedly cause distress to the client if she
knows the truth. In the worst-case scenario, even a small amount of distress can
deteriorate her condition. With that being said, the nurse was manifesting non-beneficial
actions that might eventually harm the client.
Lastly, since the nurse was acting incompetently, the nurse's sense of fidelity has
been undermined. Given that we need to establish an appropriate or therapeutic nurse-
client relationship, in the given case, the nurse violated the client’s trust. As a result,
similar to the consequences if beneficence is not promoted, the situation will eventually
cause the client distress, which contradicts the nurse's duty to provide quality care to a
client. There is a strong possibility that the nurse's actions will cause the elderly
woman's condition to deteriorate and, in the worst-case scenario, result in her death.
 In general, we clearly need to be truthful in all aspects because a course of action
and the governance of care for a patient requires nothing less than truthful information.
In connection to this, the provision of truthful information, unless done therapeutically, is
one way to enable them to make correct decisions that might benefit their overall health.