Are there employment risks to ethical decisions?
A 1991 Washington State Supreme Court decision revisited the issue of job protection for a nurse who criticizes her employer for a treatment policy or practice that, while apparently legal, she believes to be unethical. In a case involving artificial nutrition and hydration, the court held that a nurse who tried to change her nursing home employer's policy of permitting withdrawal was acting to promote her own values, not the public good, and therefore was not entitled to protection by the public policy exception to the employment-at-will doctrine.
Barnett
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TJ
D000368:Aged; D004651:Employment; D006801:Humans; D009740:Nursing Staff / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D016079:Refusal to Treat / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D014861:Washington; D028761:Withholding Treatment