The bioethical standards: the analysis of dilemmas through the analysis of persons.

The contemporary bioethical standards: autonomy, freedom, objectivity, privacy, beneficence, and fidelity are maximally appropriate to the health care setting. It is a common but erroneous belief that they are instruments for the analysis of dilemmas. They are not. They are instruments for the analysis of the character-structure of the person whose role in the dilemma is that of beneficiary. When the bioethical standards are used in this way they produce an understanding that tends to unite nurse and patient in harmonious interactions. These interactions produce results appropriate to ethical agents in a human context. These results are not accidental.