title: Managing pain, managing ethics.
abstract: Noncompliance of family caregivers can present home hospice nurses with difficult ethical choices and powerful feelings about those choices. This is particularly so when family members do not adequately palliate their loved ones, resulting in treatable symptom distress during the dying process. This article presents a case study, moral analysis, and an evidence-based, practical plan of action for engaging family members of palliative care patients on a home hospice service.
authors.affiliation: Department of Philosophy, Villanova University, Villanova, Pennsylvania 19087, USA. timothy.kirk@villanova.edu
authors.forename: Timothy W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Kirk
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D017028:Caregivers / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology; D002755:Choice Behavior / Q000941:ethics; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000150:complications; D003142:Communication; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D026689:Ethical Analysis; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine / Q000941:ethics; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology; D006699:Home Care Services / Q000941:ethics*; D017051:Hospice Care / Q000941:ethics* / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009014:Morals; D024802:Nurse's Role / Q000523:psychology; D009740:Nursing Staff / Q000941:ethics / Q000523:psychology; D010146:Pain / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D010344:Patient Advocacy / Q000941:ethics; D010347:Patient Care Planning / Q000941:ethics; D011368:Professional-Family Relations / Q000941:ethics*; D016312:Treatment Refusal / Q000941:ethics / Q000523:psychology