Beyond Hippocrates: ethics in palliative care

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Abstract
Doctors and nurses work together in the care of patients but the practice of nursing has a different emphasis from that of medicine. Because of the close working relationship, nursing has historically adopted a traditional biomedical view to understand practice and assist in decision making. In this article, the author argues that the traditional biomedical perspective does not provide a framework to explain the unique relationships that develop between nurses and their patients. In particular, the wholehearted adoption of bioethics creates a foundation for collaboration with doctors but does not allow nurses to articulate their unique ethical practice. An argument is presented for the nursing discipline to explore the ethic of care as a framework for the ethical analysis of clinical nursing practice. Palliative care nurses are well placed to promote and research the ethic of care.

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