Assignment Task:
Michael is a 63-year-old male who was transported to the hospital via ambulance after his wife called EMS. Upon arrival to the ER, Michael is awake and alert but has slurred speech, confusion, left facial droop, and unilateral weakness. His vital signs are Temp 99.0; HR 101; BP 192/105; Pulse ox 94%. Michael's medical history is significant for hypertension, diabetes mellitus type 2, gout, and chronic kidney disease. His wife reports he is prescribed insulin, metoprolol, allopurinol, metformin, and furosemide by his primary care physician. However, she states it has been many weeks since Michael has taken his medications.
Question 1: What condition do you expect Michael is suffering from and what details of the physical assessment made you suspect this? The physician orders an MRI stat. Michael has a BMI of 52 and the radiology team is concerned that they will have difficulty getting Michael onto the table. An hour as lapsed since the order was received for the MRI. The wife overhears the nurses at the nurse's station saying "if the patient wasn't so fat we could have done the MRI already."
Question 2: Considering ethical principles, what principle(s) are these nurses violating? The care team is able to?