Die etiek van geregtigheid en die etiek van omgee in etiese besluitneming in die gesondheidspan

Abstract

M.Phil.

Research on the basis of case studies showed that nurses and physicians, being the key agents for ethical decision making in the health team, tend to approach ethical problems from different en even opposing perspectives. Physicians' view on ethical decision making subscribes to Kohlberg's "ethics of justice" (1981), whilst nurses' view on ethical decision making is largely based on Gilligan's " ethics of care" (1982). As far as ethical decision making is concerned, little or no interaction, therefore takes place between the different disciplines in the health team. The latter state of affairs, however, gives rise to inadequate ethical decision making, as the two key groups' different approaches to ethical decision making often creates conflict and even physical and psychological suffering with concomitant financial implications. The health team's complementary use of both the ethics of justice and the ethics of care when taking ethical decisions, however, constitutes a possible solution to this problem, which solution is supported by the central argument of the present research. An investigation into the nature and salient features of the ethics of justice and the ethics of care brought to light that, when used in isolation, the flaws in each of these perspectives necessitate a combination of the two perspectives. The complementary use of the ethics of justice and the ethics of care, however requires a broadened rationality and discourse. In order to be able successfully to participate in the discourse of ethics, participants must exhibit virtues and have a specific telos as their focal point. The said solution does not only make better interaction , it probably also makes for more effective ethical decision making, without requiring the two disciplines to make radical paradigm shifts.