Some of the philosophical and ethical aims of this book are most acutely demonstrated in examining the challenges facing the nurse in the area of aged care. We have proffered a conception of human identity as embodied and socially constructed: our embodiment makes us vulnerable to being affected by, and consequently responding to, other people and our environment in both positive and negative ways. That is, it is by virtue of the fact that we are embodied that we engage with others and the world. It follows from this that our individual autonomy is fundamentally tied up with our relations with others. It is through the opportunities or barriers created by us and others, as we participate in society as a whole, that we each can experience (or be denied the experience of) freedom. This means that my being free is built upon the liberties of others. Therefore, my freedom is contingent on me also recognising and respecting your freedom. We have argued that it is this interrelation of the self with others that allows us to develop personhood, which itself allows us to care.

This book has considered ethics in the context of human vulnerability. We are vulnerable because we can be affected by things across the life span, and we can be affected by things because we are physical beings – part of the world around us and subject to the passage of time. Consequently, a life can come to an end at any time. For this reason, death is not only completely normal, but inevitable. Nevertheless, death is typically regarded as something regrettable. Issues of personhood and autonomy lie at the centre of bioethical debates about the ending of human life, especially where this involves abortion and euthanasia. Against the backdrop of these issues, this chapter provides an overview of the main legal and ethical considerations relating to abortion and euthanasia.

The focus of this chapter is consent. Consent concerns the granting or withholding of permission to receive care. This chapter addresses the legal requirements of consent for adults and children, and looks at the place of guardianship and advocacy in decision-making. It also considers the situation of people who are not mentally competent who may require emergency care or who need to be restrained against their will. Consent is fundamental to the moral and professional principle that health care should be geared to the patient’s interests as the patient understands them. This is sometimes referred to as ‘patient-centred care’.

This chapter addresses the topic of information we receive about or from patients and introduces the concepts of privacy and confidentiality in relation to the management of patient information. In this chapter we also outline legal requirements for reporting harmful conduct of health professionals and others. Providing excellent nursing care for a patient requires that each nurse involved in the patient’s care acquire relevant information from the patient (or a representative) concerning the patient’s symptoms, their lifestyle, their medications, their concerns and their experiences. Therefore, nurses routinely see, hear, read and record things about other people that are not normally discussed outside the health-care setting, and have privileged access to matters of patient privacy. This brings with it certain legal and moral obligations. Therefore, managing information about patients is one of the most important ethical and legal roles nurses play in health care and, owing to modern technology (as we discuss below), it is arguably one of the greatest challenges faced by professional practice.

As a nurse, you will be called upon to support, care for and protect people who are vastly different from yourself. How you respond to the diversity of human beings will be a measure of your own humanity as well as your professionalism. Certainly, caring does not come as easily to some nurses as it does to others. So why do people want to support the ill or incapacitated? What is it about human nature that causes people to care for each other at all?This chapter will provide a response to this question through a description of the human person as a dynamic unity of personal factors (such as biology and psychology); interpersonal factors (such as relationships with immediate family and close friends); and social factors (such as type of education, or socioeconomic status). The concept of vulnerability will be discussed, where you will see that it is vulnerability that gives us the capacity to care for each other.