Module 3 Basic Ethical Principles & Professional Ethics

BASIC ETHICAL PRINCIPLES

Principle of Stewardship
Stewardship (care the environment, ourselves as nurses and to our patients = if we value ourselves,
meaning we take care, we give our best) refers to the execution of responsibility of the nurse to look after,
provide necessary health care services, and promote the health and life of those entrusted to their care. It
involves managing, taking charge, or caring for another’s property believing that ‘ownership’ is to God.
Human life and nature with all its natural resources belong to God therefore, our bodies, life, health, the
earth and everything in it should be taken care of to the best of our abilities.
Example: Sleeping on time and having enough hours of sleep, eating nutritious foods, not having
any vices, drinking plenty of water are ways of taking care of our bodies, health and life.

Issues that surface in relation to stewardship are euthanasia, abortion, sex change operations, new
reproductive technologies (test tube babies), among others.

Principle of Totality
Totality refers to the duty to preserve intact the physical component of the integrated bodily and spiritual
nature of human life, whereby every part of the human body "exists for the sake of the whole as the
imperfect for the sake of the perfect".

The whole is greater than only its parts (Martha Rogers). The existence of parts indicates the existence of
the whole.” The mode of existence & functions contributes to the whole & vice versa.

Issues related to totality are amputation, organ transplant, sedation.

Example: In an instance where there is a need to perform amputation of a gangrenous limb, this justifies
the principle of totality because the person could die if the gangrene spreads.

MORE EXAMPLE: HYSTEROCTOMY – AALISIN MO BA ANG UTERUS O HINDI? EH MAY

CANCER, PAG PRINCIPLES OF TOTALITY ANG USAPAN, AALISIN, KASI MASASAVE ANG
PATIENT IF WE DID THAT.

Principle of Double Effect (Two-fold effect)

IT HAS BOTH + AND – EFFECT

+ EFFECTS SHOULD ALWAYS OUTWAY THE NEGATIVE EFFECTS

An action that is good in itself that has two effects--an intended and otherwise not reasonably attainable
good effect, and an unintended yet foreseen evil effect--is licit, provided there is a due proportion
between the intended good and the permitted evil.

1. Various action which we desired

2. Various effects which we do not desire but merely allowed

B. Moral distinctions between:

1. Performing good act w/ both good & bad effects
2. Performing evil act to attain good results (Edge & Groves, 2019)
• Course chosen must be good or at least morally neutral.
• Good must not follow as a consequence of the secondary harmful effects.
• Harm must never be intended but merely tolerated as casually connected with the good intended.
• Good must outweigh the harm.

Example 1: This principle is used to justify total hysterectomy (removal of uterus, ovaries, and fallopian
tubes) for a pregnant mother with ovarian cancer. The intention in this context is to save the mother and
not to kill the fetus. The death of the fetus is an Indirect result.

Example 2: Although euthanasia is illegal in the UK, doctors are allowed to administer potentially lethal
doses of painkilling drugs to relieve suffering, provided they do not primarily intend to kill the patient.

EG.

COVID 19 VACCINES – IT HAS BOTH + EFFECTS (IMMUNITY AGAINST THE VIRUS), -

EFFECTS (SIDE AND ADVERSE EFFECTS)

Principle of Cooperation
(MAY ROLE KA DUN SA IMMORAL ACTION)
Cooperation - working with another in the performance of an action
• The participation of more than one person in the same immoral, or criminal action
• The associate maybe equally guilty with the wrong doer, or less guilty, or perhaps not guilty at all

Various Degrees of Cooperation

Formal & Material
1. Formal Cooperation - consists of an explicit intention and willingness for the evil act. It
happens whenever one takes some part in the immoral action of another, while at the same time adopting
the evil intention of his associate.
Example: Suppose that a nurse is caring for a terminally ill patient, and she knows that the
patient plans to commit suicide (which is also euthanasia in this example). The patient has
obtained a pain medication that he can use to commit suicide by overdose. The nurse might
cooperate formally with the suicide of that patient by deciding to omit a scheduled visit to the
patient’s room, so that the overdose will not be detected until the patient is dead. This act of
omission is directed at assisting the patient in attaining the moral object of an intrinsically evil act
of suicide. Therefore, the nurse is committing an intrinsically evil and gravely immoral act of
formal cooperation by omission.

2. Immediate Material Cooperation - consists of an act other than the evil act itself but facilitates &
contributes to its achievement
 Example: A nurse who, as part of his job, assists during abortion procedures – he’s right there in
the room, literally handing the doctor the scalpel, even though he doesn’t take the baby’s life
himself, and may not particularly desire the abortion to happen or really care about it either way.
He’s just doing his job. Nonetheless, the fact that he is directly contributing to the sinful act itself
makes him guilty as well, at least to some extent.

Principle of Solidarity
Solidarity - being one with others. This claims that human communities exist to promote and share
common good.

EMPHASIS IS HOW WE RELATE TO EACH OTHER.

Example: a father decides where his family with young kids will go on holidays (even though not
all the kids like the destination)
Disparagement, or the act of speaking about someone or something in a way which shows that the
person does not have a good opinion about them is an issue violating solidarity.