Discussion postHealthcare ethics

Explain the basic ethical considerations in terms of informed consent, beneficence, truth telling, and deception.

Pick the case for the ethical tension, not for how interesting it is clinically. The brief lists four considerations and two of them are only distinguishable if the case involves a decision to withhold something.

Editorial process

Last reviewed · August 23, 2026

Written by

Maren Caldwell

MSN, RN, CNE

Medical-surgical nursing, pharmacology and NCLEX preparation

Reviewed by

Dr. Tessa Redmond

DNP, RN, CNE

Evidence-based practice and clinical education

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Interpret the task
Assignment instructions
Deliverables
Proposed outline
Research plan
Reference shortlist
Final review

Choosing a case that can carry all four considerations

Choose the case backwards from the four items you have to discuss. Informed consent and beneficence appear in almost any clinical scenario, but truth telling and deception are listed separately and only come apart when the case contains a decision about what to disclose. A family asking that a terminal diagnosis be kept from a patient, a placebo given without explanation, a serious error not disclosed to the person it harmed, an interpreter softening bad news: these are the cases where all four considerations are live at once. A routine consent scenario will leave you with two paragraphs of substance and two of padding, so spend a few minutes on selection before writing anything. A published case also spares you the de-identification a workplace case would need, and it usually arrives with the competing arguments already set out, which is a considerable head start when four separate considerations have to be covered in one post.

Keep truth telling and deception genuinely distinct, because the brief separated them for a reason. Truth telling is the positive duty of veracity, and it is what supports informed consent: a patient cannot consent to what they have not been told. Deception is broader and includes what is withheld and what is implied, so a technically true statement designed to leave a false impression belongs here rather than under truth telling. Note the tension the case will expose, which is that beneficence is often the reason people give for deceiving patients, and that this is precisely the paternalism the doctrine of informed consent developed to constrain. Then address the Christian worldview as an argument rather than an appendix. Say which commitments it brings, the imago Dei view of personhood, veracity as a moral duty, stewardship rather than ownership of life, and say where they converge with the principles and where they would push a decision differently.

Likely learning objectives

Select an ethics case that activates all four required considerations.
Separate the duty of veracity from the broader category of deception.
Identify beneficence as the usual justification offered for paternalism.
Apply a worldview's specific commitments rather than a general moral stance.

Assignment instructions

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Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.

HLT 317V Topic 4 DQ 2 Choose a health care case study on ethical practices from your work environment or from a library article. Explain the basic ethical considerations in terms of informed consent, beneficence, truth telling, and deception. Describe the role of the Christian worldview when considering these issues.

Course-wide instructions that accompany this question

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS Discussion Questions (DQ) Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words. Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source. One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words. I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses. Weekly Participation Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately. In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies. Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work). Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week. APA Format and Writing Quality Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required). Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation. HLT 317V Topic 4 DQ 2 I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition. Use of Direct Quotes I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly. As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content. It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source. LopesWrite Policy For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me. Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes. Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own? Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score. Late Policy The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies. Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances. If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect. I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension. As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading. Communication Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class. Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.

What the Topic 4 ethics discussion requires

01A health care case study on ethical practices from work or a library article.
02An explanation of the ethical considerations in terms of informed consent.
03The same for beneficence, truth telling, and deception.
04A description of the role of the Christian worldview when considering these issues.