Morality In Nursing

Tram Dinh

PHI 227 Tuesday, 4:30- 7 P.M.

Professor Aoudjit

Assignment #1

Discussion Questions Chapter 1

2. Discuss the difference between the term legal and moral In general, laws are rules or actions prescribed by a government that have a legal force, and morality is defined as the quality of being virtuous or practicing the right conduct. In other words, it means that moral serves as the obligation to do what the conscience of a person tells him or her what is right while it is not the case for the legality. Based on the definitions, there are several ways to differentiate legal and moral term. First, when it comes to the object, law provides submission of individual to the will of society while morality subjects individual to the

First common dilemma a nurse face is confidentiality. It is not only a way of showing respect for a patient’s autonomy but also a way of showing professionalism in workplace. In addition, confidentiality is also a legal issue since there are many specific laws regarding to the release of information under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA. Another ethical issue relating to confidentiality is telling the truth or being honest with patients as well as their family. In most cases, families tend to withhold truthful information to protect patients from emotional distress. For nurses, they might deal with such situations when nurses are not sure if a patient have the right to know everything about their condition, even if sharing the information will cause harm or what if sharing a patient this information can eventually promote happier, less stressful. In short, deciding what information will be shared coupled with whom, how and when to share it – can be a difficult part of a nurse’s

Resources providing patient care include bed space, government reimbursements, funding. Nurses might have to deal with this ethical dilemma when patients are utilizing resources that might be better used on another patient. For example, if a patient is in a medically vegetative state with no brain function, is on life support and has been for several years, and the cost of maintenance is high, nurses will have to decide whether redirect these resources to patients for whom they could be truly life-saving or allow the resources being used on this patient to