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What would you do?

Article Abstract:

Two nurses describe situations in which they felt that decisions of others had compromised their responsibility for patient care. One nurse describes a situation in which the family of an elderly patient had accepted her impending death. The woman had had analgesia, and she was in a peaceful ward surrounded by her family, when the consultant decided to attempt aggressive treatment. The woman died in intensive care with her family waiting outside believing she would live. The second situation concerns a decision not to tell a patient about a diagnosis or to present him with treatment options.

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Killing with care

Article Abstract:

Nursing professor Hilde Steppe has researched the role of nurses in Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany. The Nazis promoted the belief that society had a right to rid itself of members who could not perform a useful role, and, after 1939, nurses participated in systematic extermination programmes. The facts raise debate about the tenets of the nursing profession. Many nurses who were involved in the Nazi programmes believed that they were acting in the best interests of the patients concerned. Also, obedience was an important part of the nursing profession.

Germany, History, Political aspects, Murder, National socialism, German history

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