An Analysis of Legal and Professional Issues in Nursing

This paper delves into the ethical and legal dimensions of nursing practice, highlighting the challenges nurses face while emphasizing the importance of ethical decision-making. It explores key ethical principles such as respect for autonomy, non-maleficence, justice, and beneficence, and how these principles guide nurses in navigating complex situations. The paper addresses ethical dilemmas such as patient freedom versus nurse control, honesty versus information disclosure, and reproduction rights, illustrating the application of ethical principles in practice. It also examines the legal aspects of nursing, including licensure, scope of practice, and the potential for litigation related to negligence and malpractice. The conclusion underscores the legal and ethical obligations of nurses in providing patient care and their contribution to public health.

Legal and Professional Issues in Nursing
Nursing is a fulfilling career; however, it also faces various challenges. Even though,
there is no clear answer to the frequently ethical issues faced by nurses, there are set of standards
that control ethical decision making. These legal mechanisms are applied to ensure that there is
high standard of ethics. Therefore, this paper examines ethical legal issues in nursing practice.
Major Ethics and their Application
Some of the most common ethical principles that nurses use include respect for
autonomy, non-maleficence, justice and beneficence. These standards are the guidance to nurses
in making ethical decisions. The rules define the ethical principles for nurses across all levels,
settings and roles, provide directions, and sets expectations (Oppenheimer, LaVan & Martin
2015, p.522). One of the ethical issues that may arise is patient freedom verses nurse control.
Nurses know their work, but there are some situations where patients make their own decision
and refuse to follow the advice given to them by the nurse. Even though nurses are not bound to
sign a Hippocratic Oath, they are bound by the promise to devote themselves to ensure that
patients are able to access care and to live up to the principles of profession. In this case, the
beneficence principle which is a rule to do good based on the issue at hand applies (Staunton and
Chiarella 2013, p.35). Besides, nurses have this duty to care for their patients, and so, autonomy
is also applicable.
Non-maleficence, on the other hand, is the act of doing no harm on the choice taken
(Staunton and Chiarella 2013, p.35). In the reproduction rights, for example, there is an argument
between pro-life and pro-choice, which is based on an individual’s cultural beliefs and values. A
pro-life is a situation whereby a patient feels that it is her right to abort. On the other hand, if the
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nurse is a pro-choice, can she respect her patient’s rights of choosing to continue with pregnancy
even if it is threatening her life? Of course, not! The nurse will opt to carry out an abortion
provided there is no harm done to the patient. Additionally, the other ethical dilemma is the
honesty versus information. In many cases, families fail to disclose the truth by trying to protect
the patient from emotional problem. However, nurses believe that patients have rights to know
what is happening in their body even if telling them will cause harm. Deciding on which
information to be shared could be a difficult part of the nurses’ responsibilities. In this case,
justice principle is used to help nurses in this dilemma. Besides the core responsibilities of
preventing illness, promoting health, and reducing suffering, nurses are required to have respect
for human rights. These rights may include cultural rights, right to dignity, right to life and
choice, and to accord respect to patients.
Legal Issues
Nursing practice of legal application is based on license, federal laws, scope of practice,
state, and patients expectations that they practice at high level of education (Monaliza, Kalia &
Ghai 2014, p.20). When nurses perform below expected principles of competence and care, they
might face litigation as provided by the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law. Common
litigations include negligence, malpractice, and failing to practice a reasonable level of care.
Litigation together with the professional license review could result in lose of nurse’s license.
Conclusion
In sum, nurses have both legal and ethical obligation to care. Generally, nurses are bound
to seeing the patients for evaluation of health needs and to determine the level of care needed.
Nurses face many challenges, however, they have a greater opportunity to contribute in positive

ways to improve the health of the vulnerable people and to have a larger impact on the greater
public health.

Reference List
Monaliza, Kalia, R, & Ghai, S. 2014, 'Registered Nurses' Experiences Of Ethical And Human
Rights Issues In Nursing Practice: Frequency And Handling', Baba Farid University
Nursing Journal, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 15-22.
Oppenheimer, M, LaVan, H, & Martin, W. 2015, 'A Framework for Understanding Ethical and
Efficiency Issues in Pharmaceutical Intellectual Property Litigation', Journal of Business
Ethics, vol. 132, no. 3, pp. 505-524.
Staunton, P. and Chiarella, M. 2013, Law for nurses and midwives. 7th ed. Australia: Churchill
Livingstone Australia, pp.25-36.