%0 Journal Article
%T Is it morally permissible for hospital nurses to access prisoner
%A Paul Neiman
%J Nursing Ethics
%@ 1477-0989
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/0969733016688938
%X In the United States, information about a personĄŻs criminal history is accessible with a name and date of birth. Ruth Crampton has studied nursesĄŻ care for prisoner-patients in hospital settings and found care to be perfunctory and reactive. This article examines whether it is morally permissible for nurses in hospital settings to access information about prisoner-patientsĄŻ criminal histories. Nurses may argue for a right to such information based on the right to personal safety at work or the obligation to provide prisoner-patients with the care that they deserve. These two arguments are considered and rejected. It is further argued that accessing information about a prisoner-patientĄŻs criminal history violates nursesĄŻ duty to care. Care, understood through Sarah RuddickĄŻs account as work and relationship, requires nurses to be open and unbiased in order to do their part in forming a caring relationship with patients. Knowledge of a prisoner-patientĄŻs criminal history inhibits the formation of this relationship and thus violates nursesĄŻ duty to care
%K Criminal history
%K criminal record
%K ethics of care/care ethics
%K nursing
%K nursing ethics
%K prisoner
%K professional ethics
%K Ruddick
%K theory/philosophical perspectives
%K topic areas
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0969733016688938