Beneficence

Beneficence issues also rise when a patient is not in a position to make any decisions as far as his or her treatment is concerned . Beauchamp and Childress (1994 cited in Silva and Ludwick , 1999 ) used paternalism to discuss this aspect of argument . According to them , paternalism can be weak or strong . While weak paternalism means "that the health care provider is protecting the patient when the patient is unable to make decisions due to problems such as depression or the influence of medications , strong paternalism refers to interactions intended to

benefit a person despite the fact that the person 's risky choices and actions are informed , voluntary , and autonomous (Beauchamp and Childress , 1994 cited in Silva and Ludwick , 1999 . As Thompson (1987 pg . 1465 ) rightly put it "The duty to care is not only about recognizing a reciprocal responsibility for one another but also in particular about recognizing a duty to protect the vulnerable- that is accepting the role of advocate of the rights of those who are unable to defend their own rights

Conclusion

To conclude , it can be said that beneficence is a fundamental principle in nursing ethics with definite meaning and implications when applied to the analysis of the relationship between the nurse and patient . Though beneficence is a natural human feature , it becomes a moral obligation in certain professions like nursing and thus is a source for ethical issues and implications

References

Nettina , S .M (2006 . Lippincott Manual of Nursing Practice . 8th edition . Singapore : Lippincott Williams and Wilkins

Silva , M .C , and Ludwick , R (1999 . Ethics : Interstate Nursing Practice and Regulation : Ethical Issues for the 21st Century . Online Journal of Issues in Nursing , 4 (2 . Retrieved on July 18th , 2009 from www .nursingworld .org /MainMenuCategories /ANAMarketplace /ANAPeriodicals /O JIN /TableofContents /Volume41999 /No2Sep1999 /InterstateNursingPracticeandR egulation .aspx...