Ethical Decisions in Nursing Essay by Research Group

Ethical decisions have always been a part of the practice of medicine. By setting itself as a guardian on the line between life and death, medicine necessarily sets itself up as an ethical guardian of what life means, of what life is worth, of when life is preferable (and when it is not) to death. This paper examines a possible ethical choice that is in fact very much a real one often faced by nurses, drawn in large measure from the experiences of the author's nursing acquaintance. After the acquaintance had received her LVN degree and was working to support herself through school, she often worked as a private-duty nurse in the homes of people who had chronically and severely sick children. A number of these children had Spina Bifida, and it is this condition that this paper examines more closely because it provides such difficult ethical issues to resolve. In conclusion, this paper looks at the ethical issues surrounding anencephaly, which - despite the horrific nature of this birth defect --is in fact an easier arena in which to make ethical decisions.