Friday 8 September 2017

Moral Dilemmas

I thoroughly enjoyed the Moral Dilemmas session and it was a great exercise to get you thinking about the situation allocated to your group, forming a personal opinion, listening to the comments of your peers and articulating your thoughts individually and as a group.


I was impressed at the level of focus from the five groups today and you all performed very well indeed.

So what about the issue I have noted below? What are your thoughts? Pop your comments down in the comments box - your feedback counts!

Utah nurse arrested for refusing to hand over blood

The footage shows Alex Wubbels being arrested in Utah in July, after refusing to hand over a vial of a patient's blood to the police.
Salt Lake City's mayor, Jackie Biskupski, said the footage was "unacceptable".
In a statement, she said she extended Miss Wubbels "a personal apology for what she has been through, for simply doing her job".


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-us-canada-41131664/utah-nurse-arrested-for-refusing-to-hand-over-blood


12 comments:

  1. Initial reaction after watching the video, I was absolutely disgusted with not only Detective Pain, but also of his partner officer Tracy & the hospitals own security team for them allowing this inhuman incident to happen. After watching the video ‘several times’ I totally agree with Alex, the officer’s had no authority what so ever to conduct themselves the way that they did with not having either an electronic warrant; Patient Consent or Patient Under Arrest (Which these were the policy’s put in place and agreed by both the City Police & the University hospital). As a practicing nurse, Alex was only doing her job, she has a duty of care to all her patients to make sure that no harm comes to them. I am aware that Alex has employed a lawyer and is willing to start a law suit against the University Hospital; Police officer Pain and the City Police if they don’t agree to sit down together and ensure that something like this will never happens again. Personally, I think that it isn’t enough that officer pain is suspended I think he should be forced to make a public apology…after all he has put Alex through and the global humiliation.

    #RantOver

    Cole Dallas ��

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  2. After watching the footage my thoughts are that Alex did the right thing regarding her patient, the individual had not been arrested and the police did not even have a warrant and she did what was right for her patient. Our jobs as nurses is not to be judgemental and therefore regardless of what the police are supposedly accusing someone off does not mean that we should just appease the police/law and Alex protected her patient as she should have. The actions of the police and the force they used against Alex was disgraceful and it seems they were only angry because she would not cooperate with them in the way in which they wanted and the law/police should have respected the decision of the medical team with the same respect they expected to get from them.

    Nicola

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  3. Thank you both for taking the time out to make some insightful comments, I enjoyed reading them. I find the footage difficult to watch as she was doing her job, was following procedures and if she hadn't? Well I think we know what the hospital would have said about that. I felt the police officer's tone of voice and actions were not in keeping with many of the fine officers around the world. He seems to have escaped without much punishment. Perhaps that is a dilemma in itself. We will be looking at communication on Friday, and what skills are needed in the Nursing vocation. Being non-judgmental is a very key skill required, amongst many others we will explore together. Keep the comments coming please, Mark

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  4. I think the way Nurse Wubbel was treat by the police detective was terrible and he should be disgusted with himself. This lady has a hard enough job as it is, she didn’t need a police officer on a power trip screaming and shouting at her and throwing his weight around and what for exactly because she was doing her job?. The nurse has a duty of care to a patient regardless of what they might have done or been involved in, also a confidentiality agreement to adhere to regarding patient safety. Just because the man in question was dressed like a police officer didn’t mean he was, the officer didn’t have any type of paperwork allowing for the sensitive information to be released into his care so I really do fail to see how Nurse Wubbel was in the wrong. Even when faced with arrest Nurse Wubble refused to give up the blood sample. I’m very glad to read that all the charges have been dropped against the nurse but even happier to read that the police officers have been suspended and an investigation into their conduct of the case is ongoing.

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  5. The nurse did her job. I am actually proud of the way she stood up for her patient - a lot of people would have crumbled under the threat of arrest. She didn't. That detective was completely in the wrong. With no warrant or patient consent he is acting against the law he should be protecting.
    Steph O

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  6. It is shocking the way the nurse was treated by the police, they don't have the right to do that even after being told by the doctor the officer still chose not to listen. Thankfully the poor nurse was let go she must have been terrified but I am glad the police officer was suspended following investigation! Lets hope nothing so terrible happens to any of us when were nurses!
    Wendy

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    Replies
    1. It made me think about how lucky (if that is the correct one in this context) that in over 20 years I haven't had a single problem in my lecturing career when colleagues have encountered all manners of issues over the years. If you do your job well and to the best of your ability you would expect no issues. In the case of the Nurse in question here, not only was she following procedures, but became a worldwide story for all the wrong reasons, and it was recorded too. A symptom of today's society perhaps, but at least in this case the recording has shown her to be a diligent professional with strong morals. Can we say the same about the heavy handed approach of the 'cop'?

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  7. I cannot believe the shocking treatment to the nurse in question for standing by protocol and patient confidentiality. If anything the nurse should have been praised for not succumbing to the pressure of the authority's and handing in the sample against the go ahead of the patient.

    Hannah F.

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  8. Thank you all for your comments and yes, this story really is shocking, on a number of levels.

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  9. This incident is absolutely disgusting. The nurse is following her codes of practice/protocol and to be treated like this is terrible. The nurse stated in the footage that blood is your own property. No one has a right to take that without permission or in the polices case, a warrant. The nurse being arrested and so violently is shocking. She is trained in protecting her patients rights! This is the type of nurse I aspire to be!

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