The assessment is a maximum 3,000 word United Kingdom nursing practice essay based on a case study.

Case Study:
Sam a body builder enters the emergency department with stomach pain. He undergoes a CT scan and is diagnosed with an abdominal aortic aneurysm, a weakening in the wall of the aorta, which causes it to stretch and potentially burst. Surgical intervention is the only treatment, but the surgical team estimates the chance of survival at 50%. The team also inform Sam that time is of the essence, and that should the aneurysm burst, he would be dead within a few short minutes.
Sam when he was a young man suffered an episode of depression discovering that fitness was an effective form of rehabilitation for him. Now as a body builder he is worried that the surgery will leave an ugly scar that will negatively affect his work. He therefore refuses any surgical treatment. Feeling that Sam is not in his correct state of mind and knowing that time is of the essence; the surgeons consider the ‘doctrine of necessity’.

Explore as a nurse your professional, ethical and legal obligations towards Sam.