Introduction
Case 2 presents a story of two brothers Brain and Jeff, whose father was diagnosed some time ago with Huntington’s disease (HD). Upon realization that the father may not live too long, Brain decided to reconcile with his father. Jeff however cannot forgive him the fact that he left the family and refuses to visit his father. The communication between two brothers ceases to the point that Jeff does not want to know anything about his father and his illness. After Brain learns that he tested positive for the HD, he initially wants to tell his brother about this fact, but ultimately, influenced by negative emotion of anger to Jeff, he changes his mind and decides not share this news with him.
Who is the client / patient in this case? This case involves three men: father and two sons, and three of them can be considered the patients, however each of them …show more content…
“As stated in the American Nurses Association’s Code of Ethics, nurses have the moral obligation to respect the autonomy of their patients” (Tinnon, 2014, para.1). The legal challenge for an APN occurs in the situation when Brian does not want to share about the positive results for HD with his brother Jeff, keeping him totally unaware about the possible risk for this disease. In order to exchange any information between family members, the nurse would usually discuss this issue in advance with the applicant. She needs Brian’s informed consent for releasing the medical results to other family members. The challenge for an APN presents in the situation when Brain does not want to share any information with his brother and in order to fulfill her legal and moral obligation for duty to warn, she may encounter the breach in confidentiality, if she decides to act against Brain’s