Ethical Considerations: Principlism and Biblical Narrative in Nursing

This essay delves into the application of principlism, a bioethical framework comprising autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice, within the context of nursing practice. The student analyzes the ranking of these principles, proposing a hierarchy rooted in the Christian biblical narrative of creation, fall, redemption, and restoration. The essay connects the biblical narrative to the understanding of sickness and disease, emphasizing God's role as caretaker. References to relevant scholarly articles support the analysis of ethical principles in nursing, providing insights into how these principles guide moral decision-making and patient care. The essay highlights how the biblical narrative provides a perspective on ethical considerations in healthcare, reflecting the importance of aligning nursing practices with Christian values and beliefs. The author suggests a ranking of the principles and how the biblical narrative can be used to guide the ranking.

Running Head: BIBLICAL NARRATIVE
NURSING AND CHRISTIAN BIBLICAL NARRATIVE
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

1BIBLICAL NARRATIVE
The concept of Principlism is applied as an ethical principle in the profession of nursing
that guides during moral dilemmas and forms a framework of conduct for the nurses during the
care of patients, which is the aspect of bioethics. The four principles of Principlism are
autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and justice. Principlism goes through criticism for
elevating the importance of autonomy, which makes it neglect all other principles and values
required for the welfare and wellbeing of the patient in a healthcare setting (Saad, 2018). The
principle of autonomy signifies the power of control in a person regarding their decisions and
choices in respect to their welfare without being forced or influenced by other people and it
opposes paternalism, which is the idea of a health practitioner making decisions for the a
patient’s wellbeing. Beneficence is the act of working for the benefit of others as this habit
removes chances of harm and danger, and focuses on good health. The act done for the best
interest of a patient is the core foundation of this principle. Non-Maleficence is the concept of
avoiding deliberate harm and doing things to limit the issue of dangers for the patient, the
obligation of non-maleficence is more necessary than following beneficence. Justice is the act of
distributing cost and benefits equally to everyone irrespective of any standard or criteria as this
ensures fair treatment and proper delivery of rights and freedom (Beauchamp, 2016). According
to me the ranking of the four principles should be Justice, Non-Maleficence, Beneficence and
Autonomy. The Christian biblical narrative has four parts known as creation, fall, redemption,
and restoration. It refers to the phenomenon of sickness and disease, and it gives a perspective on
the same. The concept of principlism will be ranked according to this biblical narrative, which
suggests that beneficence, justice, non-maleficence and autonomy will be the appropriate rank
because the bible focuses on God’s master plan and the idea that he is the creator and the
destroyer.

2BIBLICAL NARRATIVE
The four parts of the Christian biblical narrative says that Creation is the idea of living in
an earth where there is God’s peace and humans are flourishing so that people can live in joy
with the presence of the creator. Fall is when Adam and Eve betrayed God’s trust and followed
the words of evil, which is a common characteristic in humans that affects the whole humankind.
Redemption is the act of redeeming the whole world by God as he is merciful so he will forgive
the sinner after the wrath is shown. This is the master plan of God to restore and rejuvenate
people. Restoration is the final act of the whole process where God renews the world as the bible
enlightens about the glorious future (Esqueda, 2014). This will be done in two ways, one is when
Christ will be back to judge the sinners for their evil doings and will give righteousness and
peace, and the second is when God will remove evil from the world as a final act. The biblical
narrative in reality to sickness and disease expresses that God has created the world so he is the
caretaker and he will look after the sinners as well as the saints, which also signifies that sickness
and disease is under his control. It is necessary to follow the path of God during illness so the
trial is made easier by Him (Guitián, 2015).

3BIBLICAL NARRATIVE
References
Beauchamp, T. L. (2016). Principlism in bioethics. In Bioethical decision making and
argumentation (pp. 1-16). Springer, Cham.
Esqueda, O. J. (2014). Biblical worldview: The Christian higher education foundation for
learning. Christian Higher Education, 13(2), 91-100.
Guitián, G. (2015). Service as a bridge between ethical principles and business practice: A
Catholic social teaching perspective. Journal of Business Ethics, 128(1), 59-72.
Saad, T. C. (2018). The history of autonomy in medicine from antiquity to
principlism. Medicine, health care and philosophy, 21(1), 125-137.