Conscience and conscientious objection in nursing: A personalist bioethics approach

The ability of nurses to act as moral agents in accordance with their conscience is both an essential human freedom and an important part of professional ethics. Recent developments in Canada related to Medical Assistance in Dying have revealed new and important challenges related to conscientious o...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Lamb, Christina (Author) ; Pesut, Barbara (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Sage 2021
In: Nursing ethics
Year: 2021, Volume: 28, Issue: 7/8, Pages: 1319-1328
Further subjects:B Ethics
B Nursing
B Personalism
B Conscientious Objection
B Conscience
B Euthanasia
Online Access: Volltext (kostenfrei)
Description
Summary:The ability of nurses to act as moral agents in accordance with their conscience is both an essential human freedom and an important part of professional ethics. Recent developments in Canada related to Medical Assistance in Dying have revealed new and important challenges related to conscientious objection – challenges that may require rethinking of how nurses do professional ethics. Notably, the inclusion of a personalist bioethical approach is needed to introduce and explicate what conscience is for nurses to be able to apply it to nursing practice. In this article, we explore the importance of conscience and conscientious objection as ethical concepts to support nurses in addressing issues of conscience amid ethically challenging situations. We discuss how a personalist basis for conscience can support nurses to inclusively engage with one another across diverse moral perspectives.
ISSN:1477-0989
Contains:Enthalten in: Nursing ethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/0969733021996037