BIOETHICS CASE STUDY

Pain, suffering, and sorrow


This is a case of Mr. X who was suffering from schizophrenia, a mental disorder. Mr. X was tied up in a mango tree and was found naked, untidy and was seen with multiple lesions, abrasions all over his body, and was badly hurt because the barrio people are throwing stones on him and they were mocking Mr. X. They believed that Mr. X is being possessed by an evil spirit because he was found having distorted and bizarre thoughts. The public vastly misunderstood his condition, fearing it as dangerous and uncontrollable and causing wild disturbances and violent outburst. On this scenario the merciful condition of Mr. X caught the attention of a female field reporter. This case has been televised. Mr. X has been referred by a psychiatric specialist and has been admitted in a psychiatric institute. Mr. X was diagnosed with undifferentiated schizophrenia with chief complaint of “Hindi ako baliw! Hindi ako baliw! Kayo ang masama! Gugunawin ko ang mundo!!!” Prior to admission, Mr. X was noted to have impaired sleeping, in deep thoughts, talking to self, with blank stares, and was accused and charged of arson. This data is been gathered from the barangay captain and from the people of the barrio, since the patient has no relatives at all.

Patient was admitted at Acute Male Unit for further management and evaluation. During his confinement, he was very aggressive, refuse treatment, always fighting with his co-patients and playing with his own feces. He experienced to be headlock by an attendant nurse due to his behavior and attitude. He was restrained everyday, although with a doctor’s order. After a week, he was transferred to isolation room. Mr. X became sickly and his condition is deteriorating, until he became weak and can’t stand anymore when there is no assistance. He used to defecate inside his room. The staff and attendant were tired of cleaning his dirt everyday. So often, the attendant instructed his co-patient, Mario, to clean up his mess, who was also a patient inside the isolation room and was charged by multiple murder.

One day, around 9:30pm, Mr. X defecated and the attendant told Mario, his co-patient, to clean up his dirt. While Mario is almost finished mopping the floor, the attendant went into the comfort room, which left Mario and Mr. X alone the isolation room. After a few minutes, Mario went out to the isolation room and told his attendant, “Sir, tapos na po ang pinagagawa nyo, hindi na ako magmop kahit kailan, sinoli ko na ang mop sa lalagyan nya.” At around 11:00pm, the afternoon shift nurse (Nurse 1) endorsed all his patients at isolation room to the incoming nurse (Nurse 2). The incoming nurse received the patients but didn’t do rounds and one-to-one head count. The nurse assumed that all his patients were already asleep. When the nurse supervisor checked his area, around 12:15am, the supervisor found out that Mr. X was dead. They call the doctor but Mr. X was pronounced death. Upon investigation, Mr. X was dead 3 hours ago, with bruises on his neck. And Mario verbalized “Ako pumatay dyan, paano palagi ako ang naglilinis ng kwarto nya. Araw-araw… at ang taong wala ng pakinabang at nagpapahirap sa kapwa nya ay wala ng karapatan sa mundo, pinapatay ko tulad ng mga una kong pinatay.”

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Solution - PRINCIPLE OF BIOETHICS