Bioethical Decision Making in Nursing

James H. Husted is an independent scholar. He is a member of the American Philosophical Association and the North American Spinoza Society. He has been a member of the high IQ societies, Mensa and Intertel. He was the Philosophy expert for Dial-An-M for Mensa, as well as the Philosophy Editor of Integra, the journal of Intertel. Mr. Husted has been a guest lecturer on bioethics at Duquesne University, USA in the BSN, MSN, and PhD programs, and has presented workshops in the area of bioethics. Gladys L. Husted, RN, MSN, PhD, CNE, is Professor Emeritus of Nursing, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. She was awarded the title of School of Nursing Distinguished Professor in 1998. She has retired from full-time employment at Duquesne University, USA but continues to teach part-time in the MSN and PhD programs. Her main area of expertise is in bioethics, where she writes, presents workshops, consults, and does research. Her other areas of expertise are in curriculum design, instructional strategies, and theory development. Carrie J. Scotto, PhD, MSN, RN, is Associate Professor, University of Akron, College of Nursing, Ohio, USA, where she teaches Pathophysiology, Critical Care, and Pharmacology at the undergraduate level, and pathophysiology at the graduate level. She has worked in a variety of practice environments, most recently in ICU/CCU at Summa Western Reserve Hospital, in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, USA. She has also worked in the MedSurg environment, and is experienced with Pediatric and Oncology patients. She has written and presented on Cardiac Rehab. Dr. Scotto was honoured as Outstanding Undergraduate Faculty at Akron in 2010, and received a Life Award from the Alpha Sigma Pi Student Choice Award for Outstanding Faculty. She has served as a mentor to countless students. Kimberly Michelle Wolf, PhD , MS, PMHCNS-BC, is Co-Program Director of the Psychiatric Mental Health Graduate Program at the University of North Dakota, USA, and serves as an Adult Psychiatric Mental Health Clinical Nurse Specialist at the Hennepin County Medical Center. She has been licensed as a CNS in Adult Psychiatric and Mental Health since 2004.

CONTENTS
List of Case Study Dilemmas


List of Figures and Tables


Preface


Acknowledgments


SECTION I: THE BASICS OF BIOETHICAL DECISION MAKING


1. Ethical Foundations


2. The Ethical Journey Taken by the Patient and Nurse


3. The Nurse–Patient Agreement


4. The Bioethical Standards and Their Role as Preconditions of the Agreement


5. The Nature of the Ethical Context


6. Contemporary Ethical Systems


7. Nursing Practice Intersections: Legal Decision Making Within a Symphonological Ethical Perspective
Suzanne Edgett Collins


8. Practice-Based Ethics and the Bioethical Standards as Lenses


9. Moral Distress


SECTION II: BEYOND THE BASICS—AN EXTENDED PERSPECTIVE


10. The Power of Analysis Through Extremes


11. Elements of Human Autonomy


12. Virtues as Resources


SECTION III: CASE STUDY ANALYSES


Analyses of Dilemmas


Glossary


Appendix


Index