This document discusses two newborn health challenges and ethical issues surrounding parental consent for medical treatment. It prompts discussion of how parents from different cultures may view conditions like Down's syndrome compared to biomedical understandings. It also presents a scenario where a Jehovah's Witness child needs a blood transfusion after an accident but his parents' religion prohibits it. Students are asked to discuss how the nurse should handle informing the healthcare team while respecting the parents' wishes, and weigh the ethical issues involved in refusing a life-saving transfusion for a child.

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Discussion Topic
Discussion:
1. Choose a newborn health challenge such as Down’s
syndrome, cleft lip and palate, or absence of digits.
a. How might parents from various cultures feel about the
cause of this condition?
b. How does this compare with the biomedical understanding?
2. An emergency room nurse is taking care of a 5-year-old boy
who suffered trauma from a bike accident. His family identifies
as Jehovah’s Witnesses. The nurse explains that the boy may
need a blood transfusion. The parents express concern because
taking blood, including via blood transfusion, is discouraged by
their religion, a stance with which they agree.
a. How should the nurse discuss this situation with the parents
and the interdisciplinary health care team?
b. What do you think the best course of action should be?
c. What are the primary ethical issues related to the refusal of
blood transfusions in a child?
Submission Instructions:
Your initial post should be at least 500 words, formatted and
cited in current APA style with support from at least 2 academic
sources.
You should respond to at least one of your peers by extending,
refuting/correcting, or adding additional nuance to their posts.
All replies must be constructive and use literature where
possible.