Cambridge Scholars Publishing Humanity at the Heart of Practice: A Study of Ethics for Health-Care Students and Practitioners

Humans are the only beings in the world who are concerned with what ought to be done. They perceive the impact of another human’s action as good or evil, moral or immoral. Healthcare is humans caring for other vulnerable humans and ethics evaluates the way humans treat each other, so follows logically that this book about ethical decision-making in healthcare uses humanity as its organizing structure. The book begins by considering values and good reasoning. Philosophy is concerned with what can be known through the power of human reason, so we need to consider what it is to know, to grasp concepts and to use good reasoning to make arguments. It then discusses what it is to be a being in the world, looking at both nature and human nature, and considers the professional and the patient. The volume then explores making good ethical choices and the use of theoretical ethics to evaluate what the good choice is. It also details issues at the beginning and end of life and concerns related to healthcare as a business. It will allow the reader to make decisions in moral situations through the application of principles of philosophical ethics, to understand the foundations of the philosophical principles they find compatible with their personal informal moral development, and to resolve ethical dilemmas into their essential components using a provided framework to make clear the conflicting values, policies, or principles to move to a principle-based solution. About the Author Beverly J. Whelton, PhD, MSN, is an Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Wheeling Jesuit University, USA, and teaches online at Gonzaga University, USA. She received her MSN and PhD from the Catholic University of America, and lectures nationally and internationally on human life itself as a foundation for practice. She has published articles in journals such as Linacre Quarterly, Nursing Philosophy, and Nursing Science Quarterly, among others, and was Vice Chair of the International Philosophy of Nursing Society from 2005 to 2018. Jane Neuenschwander, EdD, is a life-long educator. After years of teaching in public schools, she moved into the area of curriculum and instruction, working for the Challenger Learning Center at Wheeling, West Virginia. She also worked as a NASA Educator Resource Manager with responsibilities in the area of educational professional development. She earned an MA in Elementary Education from West Virginia University and an EdD in Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment from Walden University, USA. She currently teaches in the Department of Education at Wheeling Jesuit University, USA.