Ethical Decisions about Neonates in Norway

• Published in: Image: the Journal of Nursing Scholarship
• Main Author: Brinchmann, Berit Store
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1999
• Subjects: Norway; Strauss; Northern Norway
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1547-5069.1999.tb00498.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1547-5069.1999.tb00498.x; https://sigmapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1547-5069.1999.tb00498.x

The aim of the study was to generate knowledge about ethical decision making by nurses and physicians in hospitals' neonatal units. The research question was; What ethical assessments underlie decisions about whether to start, continue, or stop medical treatment of very sick premature babies. The background was the investigator's interest in the relevance of different ethical positions in neonatal units. The theoretical framework was normative ethics; deontologic ethics, utilitarianism, Aristotelian virtue‐ethics theory, and an ethics of proximity (Vetlesen, 1994). This study describes knowledge about how ethical choices are made in practice, and will increase the empiric knowledge about ethical choices in neonatal units. The study was descriptive. Empiric material was collected through field observations and interviews (Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Glaser 1978); 120 hours of field observations of physicians' and nurses' work with very sick premature babies were made during 10 months in 1995 and 1996 at one university hospital in northern Norway. In addition, 22 in‐depth interviews were conducted with 12 registered nurses and 4 physicians using a semi‐structured interview guide. Each interview was tape recorded and transcribed.