The Ethics of Care by Virginia Held Analysis Essay Example

Ethics of care is moralized by Virginia Held. Virginia is an American moralist and feminist philosopher. She stated that it is important to understand our moral beliefs about our family and friends and what they need from us as we care for them. The ethics of care do not just play out in a family setting. It now plays out in jobs and careers. For example, animal caretakers, nurses, and teachers. Those are just a few of many jobs that you care for something. Ethics of care is defined as meeting the needs of somebody we take responsibility for. Valuing ethics you must care for them physically and emotionally. If anybody, does it just one way or not at all they are failing the ethics of care. It is encouraged that people who work in jobs that require this to study up on this moral philosophy. Many people do not have the same ethics and morals. It is also important if you work with somebody to into the mission statement or morals of the company you are working for. If you do not and something goes wrong, or you are against your company, you should have checked in on those things before applying for that job. 

The real-life situation I am using is an article I found online. The story is about a patient that was demeaned for inadequate quality by the nurses caring for her. This situation took place in the UK in 2009. The elderly is being given poor care or denied care in hospitals across Great Britain. The article states that there are 16 cases in which elderly people were let down and cruelly treated by health services staff. The nurses lack compassion and patients have been left lying in the feces and urine. They do not receive help eating or drinking either. There have also been issues of giving a wrong diagnosis or the wrong treatment. They say it is the staffing shortage's fault. It is a scary thought to have a family member in a care facility or hospital thinking they are not getting the absolute best care that they could receive. Their families are fighting for their family members especially because they see their family as people. Not numbers or statistics. 

The head nurse has received lots of calls from families complaining. The nurse assured them that they are being treated with care. She told the reporter that this is only happening to about 2 percent of patients. This should not be an excuse though it is still happening. Obviously, a new article is going to right one side of the story. So how do we view this? As a reader, I view this as an issue, and no matter what side of the story you get there is still a problem. The elderly are people, and they are not getting the care that they are paying for. That is not just one point of this though. As a nurse, you must follow the ethics of care. It is ethically and morally wrong that a human is left sitting in their feces and urine.  

The features of ethics of care are meeting the needs of others as it is your responsibility, valuing emotions and attachment, and privacy. These are all notable features. Privacy is a huge one not only is it your business, but it is also who you are caring for business. It is principal that you follow the features to follow along the ethics of care. There is a difference in caring for someone and simply caring about someone. When caring for someone in a hospital it is are to get attached to patients as they are in the hospital for a reason, and they could leave at any time. Whether that be physically getting discharged or passing away. Studies have shown that nurses who care for patients mentally care for their patients better physically.  

Nurses go through extensive schooling and training. It is unbelievable to me that this could happen. Since it does happen though there has to be a solution to the issue. There could be a broad number of solutions to fixing problems like these. Nevertheless, we must find a solution to this issue. First, let us identify the problem. Elderly patients are being treated poorly but the staff of the hospital is more detailed is the nurses. Why is this happening? That is a question that everyone who has seen this story is thinking. Without knowing why, it is hard to find the solution. The lack of care could be from the elderly being rude or pure laziness. The nurse took the responsibility of giving ethical care when she started her career as a nurse. To begin finding the solution I think the head nurse or whoever is in charge must watch the nurses carefully and monitor them. If this is only happening to 2% of the patients, then this must be only one or a few nurses neglecting them. If they find a reason as to why this is happening, then they must look further into it. If they find the nurse who has done this, then there is no reason they should take away the nurse's license.  

As a nurse, you have the responsibility to care for your patients ethically and morally. If you fail to do that then you must have chosen the wrong career. The whole theory of the ethics of care is the relationship you have with the person you are providing care for. As I kept reading this story something popped up to me. The article stated that it is only “two percent” that are getting mistreated. That sharing with us that that is the only number of people who reported it. So, does this continue to happen in this facility? If they begin monitoring their staff, they will begin to see what else is going on behind closed doors. 

While studying the ethics of care I have seen a lot about the feminist side of it. It states that you must be a good woman to be able to care for someone. What establishes a woman to be a good caregiver. There are four traits listed with that. They are attentiveness, responsibility, competence, and responsiveness. Women are natural caregivers given their natural maternal instinct. Do women already have the built-in ethics of care? A quick answer is no. Growing up we are all taught differently. The way your mother cared for you rubs off on how you care for others.  

Being taught the ethics of care is simply easy. But learning them and making sure they become your morals and ethics are completely different things. There are a few theories on the ethics of care, the first one being people are understood to have varying degrees of dependence and interdependence on one another. So, establishing that you need to have a full understanding of how much one person can care for you. The relationship you have with your caregiver and the patient needs to be understanding and mutual. So, referring to the article, it is possible that the patient and the nurse did not have a clear understanding of each other. It does not make it right though that the patients were left like that though. 

Another theory is that other individuals affected by the consequences of one's choices deserve consideration in proportion to their vulnerability. This states that the patient is being vulnerable, and the caregiver needs to understand the consequences of them not caring for their patient accordingly. If we compare this theory with the story, it is saying the patient knew they were putting themselves in a vulnerable spot. Also thought the nurse knew the consequences of not caring for her patient. 

The last theory we are looking at is situational details deciding how to safeguard and promote the interests of those involved. Everyone involved in the situation has the time to get to know one another. At this hospital, nobody did that. It is obvious because leaving a patient in the urine and feces would have never happened. The head nurse or whoever oversaw this facility must have seen the situation and done something about it. I cannot think of a situation where somebody would think this is okay. Even leave somebody like that if they knew it was happening. Just like the second theory, both are putting themselves in a vulnerable position and they both have the right to speak up if not. Being a nurse, you have rules in your facility, that is why it is always particularly important to look up their morals and ethics to make sure they coincide with yours. 

The ethics of care is a theoretical idea. It should be studied with nurses today. They would learn a lot from it, and it could even save them from lots of trouble in their career. But nursing is not just a job to get a check. You must really love it. If you do not really love it, then you lose interest and you do not care. And the whole point of being a nurse is to care for somebody else.