Principles of Distributive Justice
In this case study, the infant with Down syndrome (Trisomy 21) and complex cardiac lesion requires at least two major surgical procedures during early infancy for her to have a chance to survive beyond childhood. Therefore, it is the obligation of the parents to make a decision on the medical care to be taken which is best suitable on a child’s best interests thus weighing the benefits against the burden of care anticipated for medical treatment (Peirce & Smith, 2020). For instance, an infant is not in the age to make any contribution to the decision to be taken for the patients’ rights to be fulfilled. Additionally, parents have the legal obligation to ensure that the actions taken don’t cause any harm to the child which fulfills the principle of beneficence. The clinical team as well as the responsibility to provide knowledge on the medical condition that the infant is facing to enhance easy decision to the parent through an attempt to give prior experience with similar cases. The informed consent to the parent will easily help to overcome the contradiction on whether to continue pursuing potentially beneficial to the infant which is more expensive or choose to forego a more conservative approach.
Reference
Peirce, A. & Smith, J. (2020). Ethical and Legal Issues for Doctoral Nursing Students. Lancaster, PA: DEStech Publications. Ch. 3, Ch. 4, & Ch.5.