Showing papers on "Professional ethics published in 1984"

The virtues in a professional setting

Abstract: The Benthamites, observed Melville, would never have urged Lord Nelson to risk his life on the bridge of his ship. The loss of so brilliant a tactician wouldn't have looked good on a cost/benefit analysis sheet. From the British perspective, his heroism would not have produced the greatest balance of good over evil. Melville's comment slyly suggests that the field of ethics does not reduce to the utilitarian concern for producing good. Ethics must deal with being good as well as producing good, with virtues as well as principles of action. This chapter will explore some of the virtues central to professionals and to those upon whom they practise. Let it be conceded at the outset that virtue theory is not the whole of ethics. Moralists should not concentrate exclusively on the subject of professional virtue. The terrain of professional ethics covers at least four major areas: Quandary or case-oriented ethics The quandarist searches for rules and principles that function as guidelines helpful to the decision maker in resolving moral binds. Some have called this approach dilemmatic or problematic ethics, or, alternatively, ethics for the decision maker. One hopes to arrive at principles that will establish priorities between conflicting goods and evils, rights and wrongs. This dilemmatic approach has dominated the field of professional ethics partly because of its intrinsic prestige in philosophical and theological circles, but partly because of its cultural convenience.

Employee Counseling Services: Ethical Dilemmas

Abstract: Issues surrounding the definition, identification, and handling of emotional problems in the work environment are presented. Strategies for dealing with these dilemmas are provided.

Ethical and moral dilemmas confronting forensic scientists.

Abstract: Ethical and moral dilemmas that create “no win” situations must be changed into problems that permit “all win” solutions. Professional ethics are grounded on personal morals, hence an individual's concepts of faith, health, and justice are significant. Word professions like journalism and forensic sciences invite comparative analysis of their ethical and moral dilemmas. Examples of current dilemmas in the forensic sciences involve criminalistics, questioned documents, toxicology, pathology, psychiatry, and jurisprudence. All such specialities must elevate their ethics by professionally recognizing themselves, not as chemists, physicians, criminalists, and so forth but as forensic scientists—expert witnesses in the legislative, executive, and judicial processes of law and justice. Education in moral and ethical issues from the junior high school through professional schools and in the professional practice offers promise for resolving ethical and moral dilemmas by transforming the unsolvable dilemmas into soluble problems. An exemplary beginning in public education for professional ethics is being manifested in the area of computer ethics. Practical adjustments in ethics and morals can be achieved through “experience developed by reason and reason tested by experience.”

Professional Responsibility for Harmful Actions

Abstract: The Module Series in Applied Ethics was produced by the Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions in under a grant from the Exxon Education Foundation. This series is intended for use in a wide range of undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education programs in such areas as science and/or technology public policy, and professional ethics courses in engineering, business, and computer science.

Enforcing ethics in social work.

Abstract: The attention paid by the social work profession to ethical issues has waxed and waned since the formal inauguration of the profession in the late 19th century. For the first half century of the profession's life, relatively little attention was devoted to problems of professional ethics, though social work's literature was filled with discussions of value-laden issues that arise in practice. In recent years, interest in professional ethics has increased substantially. This article discusses the growth of interest in professional ethics, the formulation of the social work code of ethics, the adjudication of grievances in social work, and the strengths and limitations of the profession's code.

Morals and money

Abstract: The authors review the implication of the term "professional," especially those dealing with the need for an ethic of trustworthiness and those dealing with the expectation of being paid for services. The erosive potential generated by these foci is explored, and circumstances which magnify or might ameliorate the potential described. The article concludes with a consideration of the relationship between professional ethics and world-view.

The American Nurses' Association's Code for Nurses: purposes, content, and enforceability.

Abstract: Using Levy's criteria of appraisal for a code of professional ethics, this article assesses the 1976 American Nurses' Association's Code for Nurses with Interpretive Statements in terms of purposes, specificity, inclusiveness, and enforceability. The assessment shows that the Code for Nurses meets generally accepted purposes for a code, contains enough specificity and inclusiveness to serve as a useful guide to professional conduct, and describes initial and follow-up action nurses can take when they witness questionable or inappropriate conduct that may adversely affect the patients' health care or safety. However, limited data are available regarding how the professional body has applied sanctions for violations of the Code. Further study on this matter is indicated and, fortunately, is forthcoming by ANA in an ongoing, planned survey.

Le secret professionnel au Québec : une hydre à trente-neuf têtes rôde dans le droit de la preuve

Abstract: Under Quebec law, the members of thirty-nine regulated professions are bound by statute to professional secrecy. This obligation is reinforced by section 9 of the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. It protects patients and clients against the extrajudicial disclosure of confidential information but it also operates as an evidentiary privilege which the courts must enforce ex officio in all proceedings of a non-criminal nature. According to the authors, this statutory equation of professional confidentiality with privilege necessarily leads to the overgrowth of privilege or to the atrophy of confidentiality. The rule interferes excessively with the administration of civil justice and compels the courts to adopt result-oriented interpretations detrimental to the coherence of the law. The article first describes the relationship between the applicable legislation and the several codes of professional ethics defining the scope of professional secret. A second part explores the possible justifications for legal duties of confidentiality and evidentiary privileges ; most of these rationales are compatibles with a distinction between in-court and out-of-court requirements of secrecy. The authors then review in a third part various cases in which Quebec courts have dealt with objections based on professional secret. Three conflicting interpretations were adopted in these cases. All three interpretations restrict the scope of professional privilege, sometimes at the expense of legitimate claims for out-of-court confidentiality. It therefore appears desirable to re-establish in the legislation a distinction between the judicial and extrajudicial aspects of professional secret. The conclusion contains suggestions for a reform of the law of professional secret in Quebec.

Are codes of professional ethics ethical

Abstract: This essay reviews and situates codes of professional ethics within the general field of ethics and considers the specific characteristics of such codes. In the process, the author argues against the view that one's professional role and code take precedence over other roles or codes. One's personal value system, once clarified and criticized, provides the appropriate basis from which to continuously assess our codes of professional ethics.

Professional Ethics Group Reviews Guidelines for Misconduct Investigations

Abstract: KIE: Many scientific societies have begun to re-examine their standards of conduct and procedures for investigating alleged misconduct by members in light of recent litigation involving professional codes of ethics and an increase in reported incidences of misconduct by academic researchers. Painter summarizes a Spring 1984 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Professional Ethics Group, at which speakers outlined general guidelines for revising professional codes and for investigating complaints against members. Among the issues discussed were confidentiality, institutional obligations to inform third parties of investigations, due process requirements, professional liability insurance, and professional duties to the public.