Overview:

This video will help the nurse better understand the 1991 Patient Self-Determination Act and its implications. Medical and non-medical professionals are shown discussing the impact of this federal act on the patient's right to use advanced directives. An actual patient determines the medical, nutritional and extraordinary measures needed at the end of his life. The ethics committee's role in ethical dilemmas is reviewed with reference to self-determination, professional mandates, benefits versus burden of treatment, and evaluation of the patient's condition.