Visiting nurses' situated ethics: beyond 'care versus justice'

This article discusses Dutch visiting (district) nurses' moral considerations of their daily work. It is based on an empirical study using extensive semistructured interviews. The study is informed by the theoretical debate on the 'ethics of care' and the 'ethics of justice'. It is argued that this debate easily turns into an unfruitful contest between these two perspectives: which one is best? The results suggest that visiting nurses' moral considerations of their day-to-day work can be described well in terms of an ethic of care. At the same time, however, concepts and issues central to an ethic of justice are also of crucial importance to their considerations. Nurses' ways of managing to combine both perspectives, even in situations of apparent conflict between them, are described. Thus, clues are provided on how the debate on the ethics of care and the ethics of justice may be carried out in a more fruitful way apart from through hierarchically opposing both perspectives.