Which of the following is considered an ethical dilemma?
A
A husband is visiting his wife in the ICU who is comatose and on a ventilator with subdural hemorrhages suspected to be caused from abuse by the husband, but after an investigation, no charges were filed.
8%
B
A patient’s concerned relative calls asking for information about their loved one’s diagnosis, but the patient has not given consent to share information with anyone.
12%
C
A patient is on a ventilator who is unlikely to survive and another critical patient with a better prognosis needs a ventilator but no more are available.
78%
D
A patient continues to have severe pain despite giving low-dose hydrocodone as ordered and the physician refuses to increase the dose.
3%
Feedback
Incorrect, an ethical dilemma requires three conditions to be present: the person must be faced a decision about which action to take, there must be different actions to choose from, and no matter what action is taken, some ethical principle is violated.
This situation does not put a person in a position to make a decision about what action to take.
The correct answer is the situation where a choice must be made to keep a patient on a ventilator who is unlikely to survive or give the ventilator to another critical patient with a better prognosis. This scenario places a person in a position to decide which patient will get the ventilator, there is more than one action to choose from, and no matter what decision is made, an ethical principle will be violated.