Ethical dilemmas in reproductive health: experiences of 10 midwives

Abstract

An ethical dilemma is a situation in which an individual needs to make a choice between two or more morally acceptable options that he or she can reasonably and morally justify or existence of a problem without a satisfactory resolution (Beauchamp & Childress 2001; Mc Connell 2002). In each scenario, one action must be chosen because performing both actions would be impossible. The importance of ethical decision-making lays in the fact that very different ethical choices regarding the same ethical dilemma can be made resulting in neither choice being a “right or wrong” decision.