Ethical dilemmas in nursing today are increasingly complex, shaped by evolving technologies, diverse patient populations, and strained healthcare systems.
The nursing code of ethics acts as a guide for nurses to help in these decisions, but it can be helpful to see actual examples of ethical dilemmas in nursing and what a nurse should do with each of them.
If you are a nurse, chances are you have faced situations where you had to make decisions based on your belief of whether something is right or wrong, safe or unsafe. This type of decision is based upon a system of ethical behavior. It is essential that all nurses develop and implement ethical values into nursing practice.
What is an Ethical Dilemma in Nursing?
An ethical dilemma in nursing is a situation where a nurse must decide between competing values and know that no matter what choice they make, there are consequences. Ethical dilemmas may conflict with the nurse’s personal values or with the Code of Ethics for Nurses.
Ethical Dilemmas in Nursing
Nurses often face ethical dilemmas when caring for patients. Ethical dilemmas come in various forms and for several reasons. The following are reasons why nurses face ethical dilemmas in nursing are as follows.
1. Patients or their loved ones must make life or death decisions
2. The patient refuses treatment
3. Nursing assignments may contradict cultural or religious beliefs
4. Nursing peers demonstrate incompetence
5. Inadequate staffing
How to Identify Ethical Dilemmas in Nursing?
Nurses in all disciplines face ethical challenges from time to time. The best way to describe and identify an ethical dilemma in nursing is to consider how a situation makes you think and feel. Ethical dilemmas create a conflict between two courses of action that are both correct but represent different principles or values. If a situation involves doing something right and wrong at the same time and one of those actions negatively impacts the other action, this is what creates the dilemma.
Examples of Ethical Dilemmas in Nursing?
1: Pro-Life vs. Pro-Choice
2: Protecting the Adolescent’s Right to Privacy
3: Empirical Knowledge vs. Religious Beliefs
4: Parent Refuses to Vaccinate Child
5: Personal and Professional Boundaries Related to Social Media
6: Nurse Is Instructed to Have Patient with Low Literacy Level to Sign Consent for Treatment
7: End-of-Life Decision-Making
8: Inadequate Resources to Provide Care
9: Former Patients – To Date or Not to Date?
10: Informed Consent
11: Inadequate Staffing
12: Spirituality vs. Science
13: Patient Addicted to Prescription Pain Medication
14: Duty and Compassion Do Not Align with Facility Safety Protocols
15: Patient Does Not Have an Advanced Directive
16: Incompetence Among Nursing Peers
17: Disclosing the Seriousness of Medical Condition
18: Questioning Physician Orders
19: Asked to Work in a Department Without Training
20: Beneficence vs. Autonomy
Consequences of Avoiding Ethical Dilemmas in Nursing
Nurses in every specialty and type of nursing facility face legal dilemmas. It is necessary for nurses to recognize when an ethical dilemma in nursing occurs and learn how to reconcile their own beliefs and values against those dilemmas. Avoiding ethical dilemmas, like the examples of ethical dilemmas in nursing featured in this article, can have negative consequences. The following are a few examples of the consequences of failure to address ethical dilemmas in nursing.
1. Nurses can quickly experience burnout.
Ethical dilemmas create a lot of stress. When faced with these dilemmas, it is important for nurses to acknowledge the problem and address them as soon as possible. Failure to do so can lead to greater stress, leading to nursing burnout.
2. Avoiding ethical dilemmas in nursing can lead to legal issues.
Some ethical dilemmas can have serious legal ramifications. It is never a good idea to ignore an ethical dilemma. Instead, the issue should be addressed with the appropriate person, including supervisors, and handled correctly to avoid legal issues.
3. Nurses who avoid ethical dilemmas could lose their jobs.
Depending on the situation, failure to address an ethical dilemma in nursing could result in consequences such as a reprimand from management or loss of a job.
4. Loss of licensure:
There are some ethical dilemmas in nursing that have severe consequences when avoided. When this occurs, the nurse could lose their license to practice. As a rule of thumb, it is always best to acknowledge dilemmas and seek help from leaders to help deal with them before your job or license is on the line.
REFERENCES:
- Rainer J, Schneider JK, Lorenz RA. Ethical dilemmas in nursing: An integrative review. J Clin Nurs. 2018 Oct;27(19-20):3446-3461. doi: 10.1111/jocn.14542. Epub 2018 Jul 23. PMID: 29791762.
- Choe, K., Kang, Y., & Park, Y. (2015). Moral distress in critical care nurses: A phenomenological study. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 71, 1684–93.
- Fernandes, M. I., & Moreira, I. M. (2013). Ethical issues experienced by intensive care unit nurses in everyday practice. Nursing Ethics, 20(1), 72–82.
- Ganz, F., & Berkovitz, K. (2012). Surgical nurses perception of ethical dilemmas, moral distress and quality of care. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 68(7), 1516–1525.
- Leona Werezak, 10 Examples of Ethical Dilemmas in Nursing, Published May 13, 2025, https://nurse.org/education/ethical-dilemmas-nursing/
Stories are the threads that bind us; through them, we understand each other, grow, and heal.
JOHN NOORD
Connect with “Nurses Lab Editorial Team”
I hope you found this information helpful. Do you have any questions or comments? Kindly write in comments section. Subscribe the Blog with your email so you can stay updated on upcoming events and the latest articles.
