Question

Judy, a new allied health professional, has little background in pharmacology. Sara, a young mother of a 2 year old, calls and states that her child has a cold with fever. She asks Judy to call in a prescription to the local pharmacy for a child. Judy does not think that it is necessary to ask for any further questions about the child's condition because "a cold is a cold." Judy does not pull the medical record and sees that the child is allergic to penicillin but was give Augmentin previously. So, without consulting the physician, Judy orders the same antibiotic. The next day Sara calls to say the child has a rash covering the entire body and cannot breath properly. Judy tells Sara to continue the medicine because it sounds like the child has measles and will be fine. Later that day Judy learns that the child is in intensive care at the local hospital with an adverse reaction.

1. Please explain what are some implications for Judy based on the above?

Answer 1

An important thing to recognize from this case is that this is a perfect example of ethics, questions that have to do with Judys action. Nonmaleficience refers to both actual harm and risk of harm, as well as to intentional and unintentional harm, but unintentional harm due to lack of careful planning and consideration does occur. Nonmaleficience is a fundamental duty of health care professionals. Non maleficience requires that you think critically about patient care and research situations ,weighing the potential risks against the potential benefits.When a health care professional is careful to prevent medication errors, or provide a Walker or use an ambulation belt for ambulating patients, you are honouring the nonmaleficience principle.