Nursing Student Ethical Dilemna

[cbs701]

I was doing my OB rotation when the instructor brings us out into the hall. She says that there is a young mom who is delivering multiple babies now and the babies are very preterm. None of them survived.

She wanted us to go and see their remains, which was a good thing, as it gives us an idea of how a baby looks as it's developing.

The hard part for me was when she said she was going to baptize the babies. She proceeded to get a cup of water and pour some on the babies' heads and pray over them.

I asked her, "Did the mom ask for this?"

Response: "No. It's just something I like to do. Most people are Christian around here anyway." (We live in the heart of the Bible belt.)

This made me very angry, and I wanted to know how the rest of you feel.

Thanks...

[caliotter3]

I can only imagine what could have become of the student, had she been the one to do this instead of the instructor, who was responsible for modeling professional behavior. The student probably would have been dismissed from the program forthwith.

[idletalk]

That is so incredibly wrong. Christian entitlement never ceases to amaze me. I would have reported her immediately.

[Nature_walker, ASN, BSN, RN]

Wow. Just wow. So inappropriate!

[Maevish, ASN, RN]

Yeah, I would've had an issue with this. I don't know if you watch the show Call the Midwife (or read the books), but it's wonderful. They deal with situations surrounding religion because the house the nurses are based out of is run by nuns.

There was an episode where a baby was born deformed and wasn't going to be able to live for long and the nurse in the hospital put it by an open window with cold air blowing in in the hopes it would hasten the baby's demise. The nun in the story line (who didn't work at hospital normally) didn't know this and was looking for the baby. She was appalled and came in to hold the baby in the last moments even though the nurse who did it thought she was a bit crazy for doing so.

That's different than what the nurse in your story did by far and we're meant to do the things like what the nun did in that situation. NOT baptizing or performing religious ceremonies on a baby without the consent of the mother. I was raised SDA and they don't baptize until you come to the age of reason (whenever you can comprehend that you're supposed to be giving your life over to God). What if the mother was SDA, or Jewish, or atheist??

On the one hand a part of my mind thinks, "Well, it's not hurting anyone and if the mother doesn't know, it won't hurt anything". Then the practical side completely takes over and wonders what the mother's wishes were. I don't physically see the harm in doing that, but then you cross over into the realm of spirituality and beliefs and that changes things.

I wish she hadn't done that and it was wrong of her to do so. Making the sign of the cross or whatever you want to do personally is one thing, but actually laying hands or performing a ritual on another human being is something that's not ok.

I don't see what's wrong with taking part in a religious ceremony that also has cultural connotations (opening the mind is a good thing). Every time I've done it I learn something and/or have a better bond with my patients because of it. Doesn't mean I'd practice it myself or that I compromised my beliefs. Once, in a PICU where I did my peds rotation, a family was holding a ceremony (with the permission of the hospital) which, at one point, required a live chicken to run under the bed. I thought it was bizarre, but I saw something new that day.

xo

[Maevish, ASN, RN]

The Catholic Church allows any member to baptize in a pinch.

That's true of most Christian religions (if they go by the bible on this). The person has to be doing it from a place of spirituality that's in line with the teachings of the Bible. That's how a pastor explained it to me once.

xo

[Maevish, ASN, RN]

I imagine that offering to hold a Hogwarts Circle for the parents during the next full moon might have garnered you a poor grade?

There are nuts everywhere, just really unfortunate when they have positions of authority over people's future careers.

I want in!!!!

[bebbercorn]

Totally not ok. I'd be livid if I were that mom... what if she is not christian? Like, atheist, or Jewish, or Muslim, or Sikh? Pagan? The list goes on and on... Or so what if she is christian and it was completely against her wishes... I am mad at this instructor with you!!!