Ethical Issues In Nursing Licensing Debate
pinoy kasi
THERE have been no easy answers to the controversy around the leakage of questions in the recent nursing licensing examinations. Wouldn't a retake be better for all of the batch 2006 examinees, to remove the cloud of doubt around their competence? But wouldn't a retake mean more expenses, some families selling, literally, the last carabao? And after all's said and done, who should be punished for the leakage?
My sense is that we're having difficulties with these ethical issues because "ethics" is complicated. Moreover, ethics hasn't quite made it into our consciousness, at least not in a formal sense. Like when I tell people I don't eat meat as an "ethical" choice, I get confused looks. People think it has to be reasons of "health" …show more content…
I remember that back in grade school and high school, we had to go to confession each week, and had a printed guide for our "examination of conscience," with a long list of sins conveniently classified as venial and mortal, the latter in bold print.
To some extent, basic religious precepts, such as "Don't do unto others what you don't want them to do unto you" (found, incidentally, in all the major religions), are still good guides, but life has become much more complicated in the 21st century and we now need to deal with more substantive issues. For example, even in high school, I used to wonder why missing Mass on Sundays was considered so serious -- a mortal sin -- for which, one of my religion teachers claimed, one could go straight to hell.
Fortunately, I eventually found the more exciting, and kinder, world of ethics, one that emphasizes what we should and can do to create a "better" world. Ethicists have come up with much more complicated criteria for dealing with moral issues, the questions guided by principles like autonomy (Are we violating an individual's right to choose?). "Doing good" and "avoiding harm" take on new meanings: Whose good is served here
THERE have been no easy answers to the controversy around the leakage of questions in the recent nursing licensing examinations. Wouldn't a retake be better for all of the batch 2006 examinees, to remove the cloud of doubt around their competence? But wouldn't a retake mean more expenses, some families selling, literally, the last carabao? And after all's said and done, who should be punished for the leakage?
My sense is that we're having difficulties with these ethical issues because "ethics" is complicated. Moreover, ethics hasn't quite made it into our consciousness, at least not in a formal sense. Like when I tell people I don't eat meat as an "ethical" choice, I get confused looks. People think it has to be reasons of "health" …show more content…
I remember that back in grade school and high school, we had to go to confession each week, and had a printed guide for our "examination of conscience," with a long list of sins conveniently classified as venial and mortal, the latter in bold print.
To some extent, basic religious precepts, such as "Don't do unto others what you don't want them to do unto you" (found, incidentally, in all the major religions), are still good guides, but life has become much more complicated in the 21st century and we now need to deal with more substantive issues. For example, even in high school, I used to wonder why missing Mass on Sundays was considered so serious -- a mortal sin -- for which, one of my religion teachers claimed, one could go straight to hell.
Fortunately, I eventually found the more exciting, and kinder, world of ethics, one that emphasizes what we should and can do to create a "better" world. Ethicists have come up with much more complicated criteria for dealing with moral issues, the questions guided by principles like autonomy (Are we violating an individual's right to choose?). "Doing good" and "avoiding harm" take on new meanings: Whose good is served here