Ethics In Nursing Discussion
Two real nurses, two real errors, and two very different institutional responses. The final question introduces the second victim, which is what the whole assignment is actually about.
Editorial process
Last reviewed · August 22, 2026
Two cases, two institutional responses, one concept
Get the facts right and handle them with care, because these are real people and one of them died. Julie Thao was a Wisconsin nurse involved in a fatal medication error in obstetric care in 2006 who was criminally charged, a step that alarmed the profession because it treated a systems-embedded error as a crime. Kimberly Hiatt was a Seattle paediatric intensive care nurse who made a calculation error in 2010 that contributed to an infant's death, was dismissed and reported, and took her own life some months later. The two cases together make the argument the assignment is building: what happens to the clinician after an error is itself a safety issue, because a punitive response drives reporting underground and removes the experienced people who have most to teach. Read both cases before writing, because the differences between them are where the argument lives: one was prosecuted, one was dismissed, and the responses shaped what followed for each of them.
Then handle the virtue questions precisely, since the brief distinguishes a principle from a virtue and expects you to notice. Beneficence is an obligation to act for the good of others, and applied to these cases it reaches in two directions at once: toward the patients harmed and toward the nurses, whose employers and colleagues also owed them something. Benevolence is the settled disposition to wish others well, which is what makes beneficent action reliable rather than occasional. The other virtues worth naming in colleagues are courage, since supporting a nurse under investigation carries a cost; justice, in insisting the systems failures be examined alongside the individual act; and fidelity, in not abandoning a colleague. For the second victim half, personal virtues such as self-compassion, humility and hope matter, but say plainly that individual virtue cannot substitute for institutional support, because that is the lesson the cases actually teach.
Likely learning objectives
- Report the facts of two real cases accurately and respectfully.
- Distinguish a principle from a virtue and apply each properly.
- Explain the second victim phenomenon and its safety consequences.
- Recognise the limits of individual virtue against institutional response.
Assignment instructions
Read the full question
Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.
Ethics In Nursing 1. Search the internet and learn about the cases of nurses Julie Thao and Kimberly Hiatt. 2. List and discuss lessons that you and all healthcare professionals can learn from these two cases. 3. Describe how the principle of beneficence and the virtue of benevolence could be applied to these cases. Ethics In Nursing Discussion 4. In addition to benevolence, which other virtues exhibited by their colleagues might have helped Thao and Hiatt? 5. Discuss personal virtues that might be helpful to second victims themselves to navigate the grieving process. –> A minimum of one professional reference must be used to illustrate the ethical issue; –> APA format must be utilized. –> 1-2 pages –> Professional journal (not more than 8 yrs old)
Course-wide instructions that accompany this question
You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes. Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages. Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor. The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.
Turn the brief into deliverables
- 01Accurate accounts of both cases.
- 02Lessons that healthcare professionals can draw from them.
- 03Beneficence applied as an obligation, in both directions.
- 04Benevolence distinguished as a disposition.
- 05Colleague virtues that might have helped.
- 06Personal virtues for second victims, with their limits stated.
- 07A professional journal reference under eight years old.
The facts, the lessons, then beneficence and the second victim
What happened in each case
Give the facts of both errors and the institutional responses that followed.
What the assessor is likely looking for
The difference in how the two institutions responded.
The lessons
Draw out systems factors, criminalisation and the effect on reporting.
What the assessor is likely looking for
A lesson about reporting behaviour rather than about carefulness.
Beneficence in both directions
Apply the obligation to the patients and to the nurses involved.
What the assessor is likely looking for
An obligation owed to the nurse identified explicitly.
Virtues in colleagues
Name courage, justice and fidelity and say what each would have looked like.
What the assessor is likely looking for
A virtue described as an action a colleague could have taken.
Second victims and their limits
Give personal virtues and state what institutional support must supply.
What the assessor is likely looking for
Individual virtue treated as insufficient on its own.
Where the second victim literature is published
Recommended databases
- AHRQ PSNet
- PubMed Central
- NCBI Bookshelf
- University Library
Search sequence
- 1.Read a primary account of each case rather than a summary of a summary.
- 2.Find the second victim literature and note the recovery trajectory it describes.
- 3.Look up the effect of punitive responses on error reporting rates.
- 4.Check the distinction between a principle and a virtue in an ethics source.
Reference shortlist
These are authoritative starting points, not a ready-made bibliography. A qualified reviewer must confirm that each source fits the assignment and supports the claim beside which it is cited.
Culture of Safety
AHRQ Patient Safety Network · 2024
Safety culture, for the reporting consequences of a punitive response.
Medical Error Prevention and Root Cause Analysis
StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf · 2023
Error prevention and root cause analysis, for the systems view of both errors.
Medication Errors and Adverse Drug Events
AHRQ Patient Safety Network · 2024
Medication errors, for the specific failure modes involved.
Medical Ethics
StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf · 2026
Medical ethics, for the principle and virtue distinction.
2025 Code of Ethics for Nurses
American Nurses Association · 2025
The professional code, for obligations owed to colleagues.
Before you submit this assignment
Common mistakes
- Getting the facts of the cases wrong or conflating them.
- Using principle and virtue interchangeably when the brief distinguishes them.
- Applying beneficence only toward patients and not toward the nurses.
- Omitting the systems failures that preceded both errors.
- Implying that personal resilience would have been sufficient.
Submission checklist
- Are both cases described accurately?
- Have you distinguished the principle from the virtue?
- Does beneficence reach the nurses as well as the patients?
- Are the colleague virtues named specifically?
- Have you stated the limits of individual virtue?
Use this guide to plan and review your own work. Follow your institution's rules and read Brinevia's academic-integrity policy.
Written by
Maren Caldwell
MSN, RN, CNE
Medical-surgical nursing, pharmacology and NCLEX preparation
Maren is a registered nurse with over 15 years of clinical and educational experience in medical-surgical nursing. She writes on NCLEX preparation, patient care fundamentals, pharmacology and evidence-based practice.
Reviewed by
Dr. Tessa Redmond
DNP, RN, CNE
Evidence-based practice and clinical education
Tessa is a doctorally-prepared nurse educator. She reviews Brinevia content for clinical accuracy and alignment with current evidence-based guidelines.