End of life decision

Prior to completing this discussion, please read the American Psychological Association’sEthical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (2010) and Fact Sheet on End-of-Life Care (2014), as well as the Block, et al. (2006), Kwak, & Haley (2005), and Torbic (2011) articles required for this week.

You are working at an area hospital dealing primarily with end-of-life decisions and palliative care. For this discussion, you will be reviewing the PSY605 End-of-Life Case Scenarios document and making recommendations based on the information provided in the scenarios.

All end-of-life choices and medical decisions have complex psychosocial components, ramifications, and consequences that have a significant impact on suffering and the quality of living and dying. The issues involved in this process of decision making are based on issues of developmental stage, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, health, family, and physical, cognitive, and psychosocial states. For your initial post, you will apply concepts from developmental psychology to create your recommended courses of action for either Roger or Geri. 

To begin, carefully review the PSY605 End-of-Life Case Scenarios document, select one of the cases, then create a recommended course of action for the scenario selected by addressing the following questions:

• What is the best recommended course of action for the client at this time, and why?
• What potential effects would themes such as the client’s culture, ethnicity, family, education, and gender have on the situation and recommendation(s)?
• How does the client’s developmental stage factor into your recommendation? 
• How do the client’s physical, cognitive, and psychosocial states affect your recommendation(s)?
• How might the developmental stage(s) of the client’s family member(s) affect your recommendation?
• How will you present your recommendation(s) to both the patient and family member(s)?
  • What consideration(s) would affect your manner of presentation? 
• Are there considerations that cannot be processed at this time because of lack of information in the written scenario?

Next, analyze and comment on the ethical considerations related to the scenario. Note how the APA’s Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct might provide guidance.

Remember to evaluate the unique scholarly perspectives presented in your reading to support your recommended course of action and analysis of ethical considerations. 

Guided Response: Review several of your colleagues’ posts and respond to at least two of your peers who selected a different scenario than you by 11:59 p.m. on Day 7 of the week. You are encouraged to post your required replies earlier in the week to promote more meaningful and interactive discourse in this discussion.

In your responses, compare and contrast your own recommendations and the information leading to those recommendations with those of your classmates.  For each response, critically evaluate the information your classmate has provided by considering different points of view. What specific information presented in your classmate’s post requires clarification and elaboration? What assumption(s) has your classmate made about the scenarios and/or information provided? Are there specific issues with the recommendations provided that could potentially be challenged? Explain. Continue to monitor the discussion forum until 5:00 p.m. (Mountain Time) on Day 7 of the week and respond to anyone who replies to your initial post.

Carefully review the Discussion Forum Grading Rubric for the criteria that will be used to evaluate this Discussion Thread.