Fink observes: “The hospital was a microcosm of these larger failures, with compromised physical infrastructure, compromised operating systems, and compromised individuals. Another issue illuminated by Dry. The book, the result of years of research and literally hundreds of interviews, chronicles the five days (August 28 to September 1, 2005) during which the medical staff remaining at Memorial Hospital in New Orleans tried to care for the patients -- over a hundred of them stranded, like the staff, in a hospital without water or electricity --following the flooding wrought by Hurricane Katrina. ... it is imperative that customers be enlightened to choose wisely as to where they want their essays written. Summary and Recommendations The administration of lethal doses of morphine by Dry. Surely there would have been four people willing to give up their spots for the survival of those four DNA patients from the seventh floor. Pop to those four patients in the aftermath of Hurricane Strain was an unfortunate result of a disastrous situation. Further, we can see how people view the concept of death and end-of- life care in a variety of ways, which allows us to understand how the administration of lethal doses of morphine to four unwitting patients, for the good of the whole, was interpreted by some as murderous, yet by others as heroic. Community College of Philadelphia We use cookies to give you the best experience possible. Published in 2013, Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital is a work of nonfiction by American journalist Sheri Fink. Given the circumstances, she and her nurses did what was best for everyone, even if it did mean emotional suffering for the families of those four patients who were involuntarily euthanized. Though arguably at odds with the ethical principal of malefaction, her actions must be judged within the context of the disaster at hand. Get any needed writing assistance at a price that every average student can afford. The catastrophe was worsened by the backlash from the patients' families, the community, and the nation regarding their decisions, including arrests and wrongful death lawsuits. For one, Dry. Five Days at Memorialis Sheri Fink’s masterful, disturbing account of that period at the hospital, and the fact that Isbell’s story merits merely a page offers an indication of how bad things got (when a disaster mortuary team finally entered Memorial two weeks after the storm, they discovered 45 decomposing bodies, more than at any other area hospital). The right to informed consent was included in the right to bodily integrity and patient consent by the federal court system in 1 972, with the reasoning that without informed consent, no meaningful and intelligent consent can be given. For some inexplicable reason, I have always been wary of graveyards, memorials, and cemeteries. Visiting the Syracuse cemetery was eye-opening for me. Character that you can make as your role model. Five Days At Memorial. They did what they thought was best in an unprecedented situation, and were able to minimize the suffering endured while maximizing the overall benefit for the remaining patients. AT Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd. The book, which takes place in August 2005, describes the struggle of staff and patients to survive when trapped in New Orleans’ Memorial Medical Center during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Because natural disasters and their aftermath cannot be predicted, those left in charge had no way of knowing how to respond to the situations that they were faced with. Although a DNA order was in effect, the decision for dying with dignity had not officially been made by these individuals. From this scene, we can perceive that the patients who were very ill and those with DNR order lost their identity because the doctors and nurses dehumanized them by deciding that they will be evacuated last. Sheer Fink's descriptions of the disaster that took place at Memorial Medical Center after Hurricane Strain ravished New Orleans, shed light on some of the ethical dilemmas experienced by the physicians and nurses who stayed at he hospital to care for the patients in the wake of the storm. Five Days At Memorial. On one hand, harm was caused by lethally injecting the patients; on the other hand leaving these dependent individuals to fend for themselves in the aftermath of a catastrophe would have caused, very potential, pain and suffering. Due to the extreme circumstances of the situation, the decision was made to administer "lethal doses" of morphine to four black patients on the seventh floor, each of who had chosen to be designated as Do Not Resuscitate (DNA) patients. Gerald E. Drink, DO, professor of moral, political, and legal philosophy at the University of California, Davis, paternalism is defined as, "the interference of a state or individual with another person, against their will, and defended or motivated by a claim that the person interfered with will be better off or protected from harm. Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital is a non-fiction book written by journalist Dr. Sheri Fink. PhDessay is an educational resource where over 1,000,000 free essays are collected. These four factors are important in inter-ethnic relationships between patients and, For instance, one of the patients on the second floor was moaning softly. In cases of disaster and mass-casualty, reality becomes temporarily altered and survival of the group takes precedence over the survival of individuals. Describe the story line in chronological order 2. In addition, health care providers should treat patients with respect and, Black Tuesday: The Political Effects Of The Great Depression, The Struggle Of Women In Hills Like White Elephants, By Ernest Hemingway, Gender Roles In The Great Depression Essay. The authors write about the experiences of a group of health care professionals from both Memorial and Life Care, their patients, and patients’ family during hurricane Katrina. Cemeteries bring to life memories of the dead. Pop and her staff should have divided resources equally to provide the most number of people with the best possible care. Pop was able to ensure that the resources available would be used in the most efficient way for the providence of care for those patients who had better chances of survival and higher qualities of life. Retrieved from https://phdessay.com/five-days-at-memorial/. Andrew Wlos Professor Peyton Burgess ENGL-T122-001 11 December 2013 Information is Hard to Handle: The Science of Ethics and Opinions Introduction Five days at Memorial is a piece of investigative journalism by Pulitzer Prize winner Sheri Fink. Time, space, communication, and identity are portrayed throughout the book. Pop could have tried to obtain informed consent from the patients and their families before administering palliative care. When one expands the scope to include every person present that day, it becomes apparent that her failure to adhere to the law of informed consent was an act of civil disobedience. Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital by American journalist Sheri Fink is a very inspirational book because it focused on the events that happened in Memorial Medical Center when the hospital was flooded and had no electricity after Hurricane Katrina struck the city. Ethical Dilemma in Nursing An excerpt from Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm Ravaged Hospital by Sheri Fink, depicts the events that occur during Hurricane Katrina as it unfolded for the individuals at Memorial Hospital. Describe the role of principle characters 3. Pop was forced to make was undoubtedly harder than any of us have ever been faced with. This paper will focus on just this; was the aftermath of the disaster warranted? The book approached the ethical dilemmas faced by those physicians and staff involved n the key roles of the rescue effort at Memorial Medical Center, one of the many medical facilities that were devastated by this category 5 hurricane. Viewed in this way, her actions can be seen as murder; however, when viewed as an act of rational compassion, the administration of lethal doses of morphine can be seen as providing palliative care and "comfort to the end. " Five days at memorial by sheri fink. 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