According to Aiken (2004) ³Ethics is the discipline that deals with rightness and

wrongness of actions´. The goal is similar to that of the legal system except that in most

cases there is no system of enforcement or ethical penalties.

³General ethics is the consideration of the morality of human acts in general´.

(Fitzpatrick 2002)

Unit 1 tackles all the basic concepts in Nursing. But what caught my attention is

the concept on Nursing Ethics discussed in the Third Chapter of this unit as Critical

Thinking, Ethical Decision Making and the Nursing Process.

In today¶s health care arena, we nurses are faced with increasingly complex issues

and situations resulting from advanced technology, greater acuity of patients in hospital

and community settings, an aging population and complex disease processes, as well as

ethical and cultural factors.

Ethical issues arise daily. There are issues such as death, dying, birth, abortion,

genetics, quality of life, and general human rights. The legal system and ethical system

overlap in most situations. Every patient contact can produce a legal or ethical situation.

Ethical dilemmas a nurse may encounter in the medical surgical arena are

numerous and diverse. For me, an awareness of underlying philosophical concepts will

help the nurse to reason through these dilemmeas as well as understanding of our roles as

professional nurses in ethical decision making will assist nurses in articulating their

ethical positions and in developing the skills needed to make ethical decisions.

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 Ethics is an area that changes with time. As our earth continues to evolve new

ethical issues arise constantly. Now not only is there the ethical areas we have always

dealt with there is now also environmental ethics which is reaching the health care field.

As nursing profession continuously progresses in its quest for excellence, its

nature becomes complex in the light of meeting the standards set forth by the

implementing bodies in nursing profession. I believe that these standards are indeed the

result of careful assessment and observation made to resolve the never ending issues and

concerns pertaining to the legal responsibilities and ethical obligations of nurses.

Many of these include the duty to interpret and carry out orders, duty to monitor

the patient, delegation of authority, consent to medical and surgical procedures,

confidentiality of medical records, negligence and others. But among the issues and

concerns aforementioned, one of the most controversial issues which caught my attention

is ³Malpractice´.

In abroad, there have been numerous reported incidents wherein Filipino nurses

who happened to be medical doctors here in the Philippines were charged of malpractice

and was deported back here in our country for attempting to save a dying patient in the

absence of the medical doctor in-charge. Legally speaking, what they did was a ³breach

of duty´ and basically, they should have been subjected to corresponding sanction.

However, in my opinion, as far as nurses¶ sworn duty is concerned, it¶s also their

responsibility to save and protect life at all cost.



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 I understand that, doing the job beyond their legal limitations was hard for them.

But because Filipino nurses are typically compassionate, they have set aside the thought

of facing consequences of their actions and didn¶t think twice when they saw the

imminent danger to the patient¶s life, considering their knowledge and experience in

critical situations as doctors.

It is quite paradoxical in nature, to which side they are to choose in the midst of

ethical dilemmas like that. In the code of nurses developed by the American Nurses

Association, there is no way they condone ethically passive behavior. But being passive

will mean two things at the same time. First, being passive and adherent to the scope of

their jobs will mean being firm in their chosen profession and avoid legal responsibilities

on their part. Secondly, it will mean depriving them of their own wisdom and freewill to

do the right thing and do nothing as if they can¶t do anything in the midst of life-

threatening situation. As for me, we are all trained and equipped with ethical principles

and laws just to guide usin making the right decision for the good of all. But no one can

really tell us what exactly to do or which way to go. It is always, our wisdom, wise

thinking and judicious assessment of the situation that would lead us to make the correct

decision.



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