Ethics Column:

Abstract

Throughout our world, violence confronts us daily. We hear about it on the news. We read about it in newspapers and on the Internet. We experience it subtly and overtly in all cultures and across nations in incidents ranging from ethnic slurs to hate crimes to violence carried out in the name of ideology. Such incidents of violence tend to be easily seen as they fall within the public domain. Less visible, however, but often more devastating, is the domestic violence that occurs within the family and often against women. The International Council of Nurses (ICN) (2001) notes in a summary of research done on four continents that as many as 20 to 50 percent of all women in the studies reported experiencing partner violence. Thus, Volume 7, Number 1 of OJIN focuses on this issue of violence. But what are the links among domestic violence, nurses, and ethics? Using illustrations from the articles in OJIN, we will analyze this question through the lens of three frameworks: (a) feminist ethics; (b) nonmaleficence and its supporting rules; and (c) codes of ethics for nurses.