Code Gray: Ethical Dilemmas in Nursing
Encyclopedia
Code Gray: Ethical Dilemmas in Nursing is a 1984 short documentary film
directed by Joan Sawyer
. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short
.
This documentary shows four actual situations where nurses confront difficult ethical decisions, as they balance the often contradictory views of patients, family members, and other staff about what is best for their patients.
Case 1: A newborn with probably fatal birth defects that is a ward of the state is in the Neonatal ICU and nurses must decide what level of care represents benefiecence, or "doing good."
Case 2: The staff in a nursing home must decide between respecting a patient's autonomy and the need to restrain her to prevent injury.
Case 3: The nurses in an ICU make daily decisions about allocation of nursing resources and bed according to the principles of justice.
Case 4: A nurse caring for a terminally ill patient faces a conflict between fidelity to her commitment to relieve suffering and the promise made to the patient's family.
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
directed by Joan Sawyer
Joan Sawyer
Dame Joan Augusta Sawyer, DBE, PC was President of the Bahamas Court of Appeal from September 5, 2001. Formerly Chief Justice of the Commonwealth of the Bahama islands from October 26, 1996 to September 4, 2001, Sawyer was the first woman to ever serve as Chief Justice and President of the Court...
. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short
Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject
This is a list of films by year that have received an Oscar together with the other nominations for best documentary short subject. Following the Academy's practice, the year listed for each film is the year of release: the awards are announced and presented early in the following year.-1940s:*1941...
.
This documentary shows four actual situations where nurses confront difficult ethical decisions, as they balance the often contradictory views of patients, family members, and other staff about what is best for their patients.
Case 1: A newborn with probably fatal birth defects that is a ward of the state is in the Neonatal ICU and nurses must decide what level of care represents benefiecence, or "doing good."
Case 2: The staff in a nursing home must decide between respecting a patient's autonomy and the need to restrain her to prevent injury.
Case 3: The nurses in an ICU make daily decisions about allocation of nursing resources and bed according to the principles of justice.
Case 4: A nurse caring for a terminally ill patient faces a conflict between fidelity to her commitment to relieve suffering and the promise made to the patient's family.