Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Ethical Issues

Ethical Issues

Nurses are essential in patient care, upholding the ethical principles of their profession and effectively navigating ethical dilemmas. Neglecting ethical issues can lead to inadequate patient care, compromised therapeutic relationships, and moral distress among healthcare workers.
Ethical Concerns in Healthcare:

Ethical Dilemmas I

Ethical Dilemmas I

Ethical dilemmas in nursing are of utmost importance, as they often arise from the tension between adhering to core ethical principles and the practical realities of healthcare delivery. These dilemmas require nurses to navigate complex situations where competing ethical considerations pull them in different directions.
Let us explore some examples to understand the potentially complex moral decisions nurses face.
Take the case of caring for minors, particularly in areas related to reproductive...

Ethical Dilemmas II

Ethical Dilemmas II

Resolving an ethical dilemma in healthcare involves a systematic approach that considers every aspect of the issue, respecting both the patient's needs and values and the healthcare professional's ethical obligations. Here are potential steps to resolve an ethical dilemma:

Nursing Ethical Principles II

Nursing Ethical Principles II

Ethical principles are essential in guiding nurses to fulfill their responsibilities, focusing on the quality of nursing care and decision-making. These principles, including autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, justice, and fidelity, shape the ethical framework within healthcare settings.
Consider the following scenario, which illustrates how these principles are applied in the care of Mr. John, a fifty-year-old teacher diagnosed with metastatic liver cancer.
Initially, Mr. John's cancer...

Ethics and Bioethics

Ethics and Bioethics

Ethics is a philosophical study of moral actions. Ethics attempts to determine what is valuable for individuals and society. It examines the rational justification of moral judgments and analyzes what is morally just, fair, and right. Bioethics is a sub-discipline of applied ethics that analyzes the philosophical, social, and legal issues in life sciences and medicine. Ethical theories serve as a foundation for decision-making and represent the viewpoints from which people seek direction. They...

Standards of Care II

Standards of Care II

Nurses bear specific legal responsibilities under several federal statutes, including:

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Cost-effectiveness, pharmaceutical pricing and the value flower - doing some gardening.

Medicine, health care, and philosophy·2026

Same author

Using consentless practices on medical wards-A qualitative study.

Nursing ethics·2026

Same author

Who deserves credit, who receives credit? A cross-sectional survey on the handling of co-authorship in medical dissertations in Germany.

Research integrity and peer review·2026

Same author

Why children's research assent matters: Exploring three dimensions of autonomy.

Nursing ethics·2026

Same author

Severity as a Criterion for Prioritizing Diagnostic Measures.

Health care analysis : HCA : journal of health philosophy and policy·2026

Same author

On the potential value conflict between scientific knowledge production and fair recognition of authorship.

Accountability in research·2026

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 26, 2026

Comprehensive Autopsy Program for Individuals with Multiple Sclerosis

Comprehensive Autopsy Program for Individuals with Multiple Sclerosis

Published on: July 19, 2019

Autonomy-based arguments against physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia: a critique.

Manne Sjöstrand¹, Gert Helgesson, Stefan Eriksson

¹Centre for Healthcare Ethics, Department of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics, Karolinska Institutet, Berzelius väg 3, 171 77, Stockholm, Sweden. manne.sjostrand@ki.se

Medicine, Health Care, and Philosophy

|December 14, 2011

Summary

Physician assisted suicide and euthanasia are often justified by autonomy. However, this paper argues that viewing autonomy as a value does not make these practices impermissible in end-of-life care.

More Related Videos

Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation of the Posterior Medial Frontal Cortex to Experimentally Reduce Ideological Threat Responses

Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation of the Posterior Medial Frontal Cortex to Experimentally Reduce Ideological Threat Responses

Published on: September 28, 2018

In Situ Immunofluorescent Staining of Autophagy in Muscle Stem Cells

In Situ Immunofluorescent Staining of Autophagy in Muscle Stem Cells

Published on: June 12, 2017

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 26, 2026

Comprehensive Autopsy Program for Individuals with Multiple Sclerosis

Comprehensive Autopsy Program for Individuals with Multiple Sclerosis

Published on: July 19, 2019

Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation of the Posterior Medial Frontal Cortex to Experimentally Reduce Ideological Threat Responses

Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation of the Posterior Medial Frontal Cortex to Experimentally Reduce Ideological Threat Responses

Published on: September 28, 2018

In Situ Immunofluorescent Staining of Autophagy in Muscle Stem Cells

In Situ Immunofluorescent Staining of Autophagy in Muscle Stem Cells

Published on: June 12, 2017

Area of Science:

Bioethics
Medical Ethics
Philosophy of Medicine

Background:

Autonomy is a cornerstone ethical principle supporting physician assisted suicide (PAS) and euthanasia.
Recent scholarship questions the normative relevance of autonomy in end-of-life decisions.
Arguments suggest that valuing autonomy could render PAS and euthanasia impermissible.

Purpose of the Study:

To evaluate the claim that physician assisted suicide and euthanasia are wrong because they destroy patient autonomy.
To investigate the concept of 'valuable autonomy' within the context of end-of-life care.
To critically assess two interpretations of valuable autonomy and their implications for PAS and euthanasia.

Main Methods:

Analysis of philosophical arguments concerning the value of autonomy.
Examination of two distinct interpretations of valuable autonomy: personal prudential value and Kantian unconditional value.
Application of these interpretations to end-of-life care scenarios.

Main Results:

The interpretation of autonomy as a personal prudential value suggests PAS/euthanasia might conflict with a patient's best interests.
The Kantian interpretation of autonomy as unconditionally valuable implies a duty to preserve it.
Both interpretations face limitations when applied to complex end-of-life situations.

Conclusions:

Neither viewing autonomy as a personal prudential value nor as an unconditionally valuable Kantian concept definitively prohibits physician assisted suicide or euthanasia.
The ethical permissibility of PAS and euthanasia in end-of-life care requires nuanced consideration beyond a simple destruction of autonomy.
Existing arguments based on valuable autonomy are insufficient to universally condemn PAS and euthanasia.