10 Dec Imagine a nurse caring for a patient taking a medication they do not critically need
Imagine a nurse caring for a patient taking a medication they do not critically need. At the same time, your spouse is in desperate need of the medication, and you cannot afford it. Would it be morally permissible to take some of the medication for ailing spouse? How can we justify, if at all, such an act? Is there ever a morally acceptable reason for a nurse to take medications, whether for personal use or to help others outside of official protocols?
Drawing on an ethical theory from our course, please explore the moral dimensions of this issue. Consider the ramifications for patients, the healthcare organization for which the nurse works, and the nursing profession’s moral integrity.
Respond to one of the following:
Contrast what a virtue ethicist would say according to its core principles of telos, virtue, eudaimonia, and practical wisdom with what a utilitarian would say using its core principles of welfare, impartiality, sum-ranking, and consequences. Use appropriate textual evidence to back up your claim. Which of the ethical theories you discussed do you believe provides the best account of what the morally correct action to take is and why? (USLOs 11.1, 11.2, 11.3)
Contrast what a virtue ethicist would say according to its core principles of telos, virtue, eudaimonia, and practical wisdom with what a Kantian would say according to its core principles of universalizability, duty, impartiality, and reciprocity. Explain how one of these theories supports your answer. Use appropriate textual evidence to back up your claim. Which of the ethical theories you discussed do you believe provides the best account of what the morally correct action to take is and why? (USLOs 11.1, 11.2, 11.3)
