ABSTRACT
Because the provision of good nursing care for some difficult patients requires setting limits on their behaviors – denying them their wishes or even insisting that they do things against their will – we must ask, “Is this ethical?” The question is rhetorical, for how can we provide good care that is, at the same time, inimical to the patient’s interests, i.e., unethical? Nevertheless, to allay fears that the use of limit setting might compromise the ethical standards of the nurse we dedicate a chapter to the subject. The reader will immediately recognize, however, that our discussion barely touches on the wide ranging and voluminously documented discussions of nursing ethics (Benjamin and Curtis 1986; Parkes 1993; Gerber 1995; Edwards 1996; Warelow 1996; Cahill 1998; Castellucci 1998; Allmark P. 1998; Ketefian and Norris 2002; Weiss et al. 2002; Wilmot et al. 2002; Leino-Kilpi et al. 2003; Semple and Cable 2003; Storch and Nield 2003; Verpeet et al. 2003; Park et al. 2003; Pang et al. 2003; Weiner et al. 2003; Zoboli 2004; Nelson 2004; Lemonidou et al. 2004; Andrews 2004; Monaghan and Begley 2004).
