ABSTRACT

This is the first book to take nursing ethics beyond stock 'moral concepts' to a critical examination of the fundamental assumptions underlying the very nature of nursing. It takes as its point of departure the difficulties nurses experience practising within the confines of a bioethical model of health and illness and a hierarchical, technocratic health care system. The contributors go on to deal openly and honestly with controversial issues faced by nurses, such as euthanasia and HIV.

chapter |18 pages

Introduction

Ethics, nursing and the metaphysics of procedure

part |91 pages

General issues

chapter |19 pages

Nursing accountability

The broken circle

chapter |17 pages

In the patient's best interests

Law and professional conduct

chapter |17 pages

Nursing and the concept of care

An appraisal of Noddings' theory