Ethics for Nursing and Healthcare Practice

Kath Melia is Professor of Nursing, University of Edinbugh and author of Nursing Ethics, 4e (with Ian Thompson and Kenneth Boyd; Churchill Livingstone).

Introduction Principles at the Root of Ethical Debate Nursing and Healthcare Ethics - the Sociological Perspective Individual Conscience Approach to Ethics Kantian Ethics - Duty-Based Theory Ethics and the Law Utilitarianism - Greatest Happiness Theory Rights-based Ethics Virtue Ethics and Professional Regulation Concluding Thoughts

If you don't know why nurses need to understand ethics - read the newspapers; if you want nurses to understand ethics - give them this book. This is well written with very practical examples with which nurses and nursing students can identify. -- Roger Watson Kath Melia has captured the complex relationship between ethics, sociology and law in this book. She does not simplify the issues, yet this text, with its lively case illustrations, is totally relevant to everyday clinical practice. -- Alastair Campbell 'Melia tackles this most important topic in a fluent and immensely readable way. This book should be essential reading for any nursing professional facing the complexities of contemporary practice.' -- Sheila McLean, Emeritus Professor of Law and Ethics in Medicine, University of Glasgow Kath Melia, an experienced and knowledgeable writer on health care ethics, has once again produced a very useful text for both students and registered nurses and health care practitioners in all disciplines. The emphasis on a case based, "reality" -- Gilly Hewetson, Lecturer in Health Care Ethics and Law, University of East Anglia