Read the medical ethics scenarios and type your answers to the questions that follow.
Scenario 1
An 8-year-old girl is brought to the ambulatory clinic for a school physical. She has recently arrived from
China and will be attending the local elementary school. The child is in good health and has all her
immunizations except the Varicella vaccine. The nurse prepares the vaccination, and the physician
administers the vaccination. When charting the information in the computer, the doctor discovers that
the hepatitis B vaccine was given instead of the Varicella vaccine.
Questions
1. What is the primary dilemma in this situation?
2. Is any harm likely to come from this error?
3. Who is liable the doctor, the nurse, or both?
4. How could this error have been prevented?
Scenario 2
Darlene is a staff nurse who is eight (8) months pregnant with twins. She has modified duties and is not
allowed to perform any heavy lifting. The nurse manager assigns another nurse to assist with caring for
Darlene’s clients. Some of the staff members on the unit have expressed that it is unfair for one nurse to
have two (2) assignments and are concerned it will jeopardize patient care. Darlene has expressed
increased stress when dealing with staff members.
Questions
1. How should the nurse manager deal with the issue?
2. What ethical dilemmas are present in this situation?
3. How would you handle the situation if you were the nurse manager?
4. Is Darlene being bullied by the staff? If so, what behaviors are unethical? What are the
responsibilities of staff to ensure support for their colleague?
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