Assignment:
This week students will be completing a narrated PowerPoint to discuss one of the following cases.
- Lisa McPherson Clearwater, Florida (1995)
- Terri Schiavo St. Petersburg, Florida (1990–2005)
- Nadya Doud-Suleman Bellflower, California (January 2009)
- Elodie Irvine v. Regents of the University of California 57 Cal.Rptr.3d 500, 149 Cal.App.4th 994 (2007) Court of Appeal State of California, Fourth Appellate District Division Three
First, students should pick one of the ethical cases above and create a PowerPoint presentation to address the following:
- What are the facts of the case? This should include: what do we need to know, who is involved in the situation, where does the ethical situation take place, and when does it occur? (3-4 slides)
- What is the precise ethical issue in regards to autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence, fidelity, and justice? (5-6 slides)
- Identify the major principles, rules, and values of the case. Values are sets of beliefs about good and bad, right and wrong, and about many other aspects of living and interacting in society with others. A principle is a personal rule that governs personal behavior. A rule is generally imposed by a figure of authority and used to guide and govern people. (3-5 slides)
- Is there legal ground for this case, state what they are? Who is at fault? What legal action should be taken? (2-4 slides)
- Is there alternatives to the actions completed in this case by the parties involved? What could have been done to prevent the outcome of the case? (3-6 slides)
- If you were a member of the ethics committee at the facility the event happened, what action would you take in this case? (2-4 slides)
- As a healthcare professional, how did the outcome of the case make you feel? Does it align with your personal values and beliefs? Would caring for this patient be difficult? How do you separate your personal beliefs when completing your job? (4-6 slides)
For the presentation, ensure the information is referenced and cited in your slides. The presentation should start with a title slide and end with reference slides. At least 3 references are required for this assignment. If you include pictures, your pictures should also be referenced and cited.
Now students will add the narrative to their PowerPoint using one of the following tools.
VoiceThread ( – VoiceThread allows you to upload, share and discuss documents, presentations, images, audio files, and videos (over 50 different types of media can be used in a VoiceThread). You can comment on VoiceThread slides within the presentation using one of five options: Microphone, webcam, text, phone, and audio-file upload. VoiceThreads can be used to create micro-lectures by:
For detailed information on how to use VoiceThread to create micro-lectures, see:
Screencast-o-Matic ( is a program that allows for one-click screen capture recording. Not only does Screencast-o-Matic record all the activities on your computer screen, but it allows you to simultaneously record your voice as the narration to support your screen capture recording. Screencast-o-Matic is great for:
For detailed information on how to use Screencast-o-Matic to create engaging course supplements, see:
Assignment Expectations:
- Length: 25-33 slides, and 8-15 minutes in length
- Use the tips at create the slideshow. Because good PowerPoints have very few words, submit a script that describes the content of each slide – about 50 words per slide. Place this script in a separate Word document that shows each slide number and the text for each slide as shown in the provided PowerPoint Slide Notes.docx.
- Structure: Include a title page and reference page in APA style
- References: References are required. You should include the appropriate APA style in-text citations and references for all resources utilized to answer the questions. You must include at least 5 pictures or graphics. All pictures or graphics taken from outside sources must be referenced and cited.
- Format: save your assignment as a Microsoft PowerPoint (.ppt or .pptx)
Expert Solution Preview
Introduction: For this assignment, students are required to create a narrated PowerPoint presentation discussing one of the four given ethical case studies. The presentation should include factual information about the case, an analysis of the ethical issues involved, identification of the major principles, rules, and values of the case, examination of legal grounds and fault, alternatives to the outcomes, action that ethics committees can take, and healthcare professionals’ reactions. Additionally, the presentation should be properly referenced and cited, including APA style in-text citations and references for all resources utilized, as well as at least 5 pictures or graphics. The following are answers to each of the seven questions that students are required to address in their presentations.
Question 1: What are the facts of the case?
Students should include factual information about the case, such as who is involved, where the ethical situation takes place, when it occurs, and other relevant details. This section should ideally be 3-4 slides in length.
Question 2: What is the precise ethical issue in regards to autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence, fidelity, and justice?
In this section, students should analyze the ethical issues involved in the case and connect them to the five ethical principles mentioned above. This section should ideally be 5-6 slides in length.
Question 3: Identify the major principles, rules, and values of the case.
This section should explore the set of beliefs about good and bad, right and wrong, and other aspects of living and interacting in society with others. Students should also discuss how personal rules govern personal behavior, and how rules imposed by authority guide and govern people. This section should ideally be 3-5 slides in length.
Question 4: Is there legal ground for this case, who is at fault, and what legal action should be taken?
Students need to analyze the legal aspects of the case, including legal grounds for the case, fault, and actions that can be taken. This section should ideally be 2-4 slides in length.
Question 5: Is there an alternative to the actions completed in this case by the parties involved? What could have been done to prevent the outcome of the case?
This section should explore alternative scenarios to what transpired in the case, and what steps could have been taken to prevent the outcome. This section should ideally be 3-6 slides in length.
Question 6: If you were a member of the ethics committee at the facility where the event happened, what action would you take in this case?
Here, students should analyze the ethical implications of the case and what actions the ethics committee should take. This section should ideally be 2-4 slides in length.
Question 7: As a healthcare professional, how did the outcome of the case make you feel, and how did it align with your personal values and beliefs?
Students should explore their personal reactions to the case as healthcare professionals and how it aligned with their personal values and beliefs. Additionally, they should discuss whether caring for the patient would be difficult and how they can separate their personal beliefs when completing their job. This section should ideally be 4-6 slides in length.