OB ethics

1. Ethics
Inpatient review class
August 2011

2. Moral Principles Guiding Nursing
Practice
 Autonomy
 Based on the doctrine of informed consent
 The right of people to be left alone and to define
their own destiny without interference— “self-
determination”
 Free Choice and personal decisions

3. Principal-Based Ethics
 An approach to ethics that identifies/defines
fundamental principles to guide behavior
and decision-making
 Duty and obligation
 Duty to follow the universally accepted rules
of what is right/wrong

4. Principal Based Ethics
 Beneficence--GOOD
 Practitioner should act in the best interest of the patient
 An obligation to accomplish good in service to others
through acts such as mercy, kindness and generosity
 Non-maleficence
 “First, do no harm” to others
(From the Hippocratic Oath)
 The duty to avoid the causing, permitting , or imposing
harm, or the risk of harm to another person

5. Principal Based Ethics
 Justice
 Rule derived from Aristotle
 The obligation to Rx individuals equally or
comparably
 Veracity
 Obligation to tell the truth
and to give complete information to patients for
decision-making
 Fidelity
 Obligation to keep promises/commitments/to
remain loyal

6. Principal Based Ethics
 Privacy (HIPAA)
 Right of an individual/group to decide when and
to what extent information about themselves can
be revealed to others
 Confidentiality
 An extension of privacy—the right to limit the
access of others to private information revealed
by pt to his/her provider
 Respect
 Reverence for persons and human dignity

7. Informed Consent—The Right to
Accept OR to Refuse Rx
 Usually includes:
 Health care professional’s
recommendations for Rx
 Truthful, honest disclosure of information such as medical
condition, nature and purpose of procedure,
consequences, risks, benefits, name/s of person/s
performing the Rx
 Patient’s understanding of information
 Voluntary consent/refusal without coercion
 Documentation of process

8. LEGAL vs. ETHICAL
Legal—fulfills terms of law
Ethical—fulfills terms of ethics and is higher than the law
 Actions can be:
 Ethical AND Legal
 Ethical but Illegal
 Unethical and Legal
 Unethical and Illegal
 Courts do NOT decide questions of ethics—
Courts decide questions of law

9. Ethical Codes
 Religious codes
 Professional Organization Codes
 International Council of
Nurses Code of Nurses (1973)
 American Medical Association
Code of Ethics (2001)
 American Nurses Association Code for Nurses
(2001) “The Code of Ethics for Nurses was developed as a
guide for carrying out nursing responsibilities in a manner
consistent with quality in nursing care and the ethical
obligations of the profession.”