Nursing Question

Case: AC is a 72-year-old male who is admitted to your ICU after suffering a massive stroke that has left him unresponsive and unable to communicate. He is currently on a ventilator. His wife of 48 years is available along with their one adult daughter. The wife informs you that they don’t have any advanced directives, but she is “pretty sure her husband would not want to live like this.” However, their daughter is adamant her dad would want to be kept alive in case there is any chance to come out of this.

What type of drug should you prescribe based on your patient’s diagnosis? How much of the drug should the patient receive? How often should the drug be administered? When should the drug not be prescribed? Are there individual patient factors that could create complications when taking the drug? Should you be prescribing drugs to this patient? How might different state regulations affect the prescribing of this drug to this patient?